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LCRA committee endorses up to $500,000 request to continue HB 1437 land-leveling recertification program
Summary
Committee heard staff recommend up to $500,000 in multi-year funding from the Ag Water Conservation Fund to continue recertifying and upgrading previously leveled fields under House Bill 1437; the Ag Advisory Committee unanimously recommended the expenditure.
The Lower Colorado River Authority's Water Operations Committee on Feb. 19 reviewed a staff recommendation to authorize multi-year funding up to $500,000 from the Ag Water Conservation Fund to continue a recertification program for land-leveling projects originally funded under House Bill 1437.
House Bill 1437 (1999) authorizes LCRA to provide up to 25,000 acre-feet of surface water per year to Williamson County "with the provision that there would be no net loss to the Colorado River Basin," staff said. LCRA holds a 50-year contract with the Brazos River Authority through Feb. 15, 1950, to deliver that water, and in 1999 the board established a surcharge (currently 25%) on HB 1437 water rates to fund the Ag Water Conservation Fund. The HB 1437 Ag Advisory Committee advises the board on expenditures from that fund; Debbie Hoffpower is the advisory-committee chair.
Monica (staff member), who presented the program history and proposal, said the original LCRA cost-share program ran from about 2006 through 2013 and supported roughly 30,000 acres of land leveling at a cost to LCRA of about $1.74 million (of nearly $10 million total leveling cost). "Approximately 30,000 acres were funded through the land leveling cost-share program between 02/2006 and 2013," she said. The original program produced average savings of about 4,800 acre-feet on a three-year average. Those original certifications began expiring in 2021; staff launched a recertification program in 2023 to restore or redesign fields and to upgrade temporary levees to permanent designs where appropriate.
Monica summarized the recertification rules: LCRA may fund up to 50% of upgrade costs with a minimum producer contribution of 20%; survey and design work must be performed by LCRA-approved contractors and fields funded previously must have been used at least twice in the past 10 years to be eligible. Participation in NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is not required; staff said EQIP now typically prioritizes fields that have never been leveled and is less likely to fund recertification work.
To date the recertification program has provided funding for 3,109 acres on 38 fields since 2023 at an estimated LCRA cost of about $377,000 (work not yet complete). Monica told the committee the Ag Water Conservation Fund balance was about $4.5 million as of December 2024, with approximately $2.4 million available for new allocations; roughly $139,000 remained from a prior October 2022 authorization and staff does not expect those residual funds to cover anticipated recertification demand.
Monica said the staff proposal would authorize multi-year expenditures so funds can be moved between fiscal years to match demand and avoid prorating. Proposed expenditures presented to the committee were $50,000 for the remainder of FY25 (already expended), $225,000 in FY26 and $225,000 in FY27, totaling $500,000. Monica said the Ag Advisory Committee met in December and "unanimously recommended the expenditure up to an additional $500,000 from the Ag Conservation Fund for continuation of the land leveling program." Later in the day the LCRA board was scheduled to consider releasing the funds.
Directors questioned whether producers would be willing to contribute the required cost share if surface water remains curtailed. Monica and other attendees noted that recertified, leveled land can be used with well water and that upgrading to permanent levees generally yields the largest savings per acre but requires heavier earthmoving and can limit flexibility for non-rice crops. The committee did not vote to release funding at the Water Operations Committee level; staff indicated they would seek board approval later in the meeting sequence.
If approved, staff said the program would continue survey and QA/QC inspections by approved contractors, prioritize fields leveled more than 15 years ago, and focus on redesigning temporary-levy systems to permanent-levy systems where feasible to maximize conserved water.
