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Central Texas Water Coalition urges LCRA to require outside users to follow Highland Lakes drought rules
Summary
Shannon Hamilton, executive director of the Central Texas Water Coalition, told the Lower Colorado River Authority board on March 26 that recent social‑media posts about pipelines in Brushy Creek renewed concern about transfers of Highland Lakes water to growing cities and urged LCRA to require receiving cities to follow equivalent drought and conservation rules.
Shannon Hamilton, executive director of the Central Texas Water Coalition, told the Lower Colorado River Authority board on March 26 that recent social-media posts about pipeline construction in Brushy Creek have renewed concern among Highland Lakes residents about transfers of water out of the basin to cities such as Round Rock, Leander and Georgetown.
Hamilton said the transfers are governed by laws enacted years earlier—she referred specifically to House Bill 1437—and asked the LCRA to use its authority to ensure cities that obtain water from the Highland Lakes follow the same drought-contingency plans and water‑conservation practices required of basin residents. "How do we ask our residents to continue to conserve when others outside of our basin aren't?" she said during the public‑comment portion of the meeting.
Hamilton told the board she has fielded calls, emails and interview requests after photos of pipelines in Brushy Creek circulated online. She said she also testified on behalf of the city of Georgetown at a recent House hearing about local watering rules, which Georgetown officials described as allowing residents to avoid fines for temporarily brown lawns. At that hearing, Hamilton said, Georgetown staff reported the city was returning toward twice‑a‑week outdoor watering, a trend she described as "alarming" for Highland Lakes residents who expect water supplies to be managed conservatively.
The board did not take a formal vote in response to Hamilton's remarks during the meeting. Hamilton recommended that LCRA require that "all cities that are benefiting from water from our lakes follow the same drought contingency plans and water conservation practices and that they are at least as stringent as all of our residents are following." The transcript records her request and the board's acknowledgement but contains no subsequent motion or directive recorded in open session.
Hamilton's comments referred to state law and to local drought planning; the transcript records no board debate or action on the subject during the open portion of the meeting. The comment was made during the public‑comment period on March 26 and was recorded in the meeting minutes for the LCRA board.
The board moved next to other agenda items, including a staff basin‑conditions update and several contract approvals.
