Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Drought Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lago Vista council restores ‘normal’ watering, loosens plan wording after LCRA briefing
Summary
The Lago Vista City Council voted unanimously to remove Stage 2 mandatory watering restrictions and return the city to its “normal” watering conditions after a briefing from the Lower Colorado River Authority, and approved a technical wording change in the city’s drought contingency plan to give staff discretion on ending elevated restriction stages.
The Lago Vista City Council voted unanimously to remove the city’s Stage 2 watering restrictions and return the city to “normal” watering conditions, and separately approved a technical change to its drought contingency plan (DCP) to replace several mandatory (“shall”) termination triggers with discretionary (“may”) language.
The changes followed a report by Mayor Kevin Sullivan and City staff on a recent briefing from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), which manages the Highland Lakes chain and operates Mansfield Dam. The council heard LCRA officials emphasize that their operating mandate prioritizes flood control and storage over recreation or local water economics, and that other factors — including hydroelectric operations and inflow conditions — can require releases even when lakes appear full locally.
The council vote to return to normal watering came after members said the city’s “normal” stage already restricts irrigation to set days and hours; moving to “normal” therefore restores the community standard that residents have relied upon while staff develops a fuller update to the DCP that will align the city’s thresholds and wording with LCRA guidance.
Councilmember Lehi Durbin moved the technical change to Section 4 of the DCP, replacing “shall” with “may” in the subsections that define required termination points for stages 1–5. Councilmember Jan Owens seconded. Councilmembers said the change will give staff discretion to avoid abrupt stage shifts and allow re-evaluation of thresholds when LCRA updates its drought triggers.
City Manager Charles West told the council that LCRA staff described how lake inflows, hydroelectric generation and flood-pool management interact; he also reported that the system can require outflows that seem counterintuitive to shoreline users. Resident David Stewart had urged careful alignment with LCRA and noted the importance of irrigation efficiency standards for future ordinance updates.
Council members asked staff to return with a fuller rewrite that: (1) harmonizes stage thresholds and wording with LCRA, (2) clarifies how drip and hand watering will be treated, and (3) sets measurable reduction targets (for example the 10% purchased-water reduction called out for Stage 1). The city will bring those changes back in a future meeting for fuller consideration.
Ending: The council’s immediate actions reinstate the familiar “normal” watering rule set for residents while giving staff short-term discretion on when to end higher restriction levels. Staff and councilmembers emphasized that a fuller DCP revision will follow to line up local rules with LCRA thresholds, irrigation efficiency rules and enforcement practices.
