Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
LCRA presents draft Water Supply Resource Report; staff aims for 60,000 acre-feet of new firm supply by 2040
Loading...
Summary
LCRA staff presented a draft Water Supply Resource Report that evaluates 17 shortlisted strategies to add 60,000 acre-feet of firm water by 2040, including conservation/reuse, system optimization, off‑channel reservoirs and non‑Colorado River supplies; report approval would accept the study but not authorize specific projects.
Monica (staff presenter) briefed the Operations Committee on the draft Water Supply Resource Report (WSRR), an update to the 2010 planning document. The WSRR evaluates a suite of strategies to meet firm-customer needs through 2080 and establishes a preliminary goal of bringing roughly 60,000 acre-feet of new firm supply online by 2040.
Monica told the committee staff screened more than 60 initial concepts down to 17 strategies grouped into three categories: conservation and reuse, upper-basin strategies using new Colorado supplies (including off‑channel reservoirs or "OCRs" and new pipelines to move water to demand hubs), and new non‑Colorado River supplies such as wholesale groundwater and seawater desalination. She said OCR cost estimates vary in the billions and implementation timelines could extend one to three decades.
Staff summarized the public-comment phase (Aug. 25–Sept. 19): nearly 5,000 email notices were sent and the project received 35 written responses, including letters from the city of Austin, the Highland Lakes firm-water customer cooperative and the Central Texas Water Coalition. Key comment topics included conservation measures (for example, how a one‑time‑per‑week watering policy would be enforced), how LCRA calculates demand versus commitments, firm-yield modeling questions, the scope of the uncertainty cushion, project-specific questions about OCRs and direct potable reuse, and requests for more detailed cost and funding information.
Monica said the board would be asked to approve the WSRR later the same day (an approval that accepts the report as presented but does not approve any specific project). She emphasized next steps: select and begin further evaluation of candidate projects, identify potential funding sources (including grants or state financing), and pursue conservation as the most cost-effective near‑term approach because large infrastructure projects have long timelines and high cost. Staff also recommended maintaining an upper-basin board reservation of 10,000 acre-feet per year and establishing a lower-basin reserve of 20,000 acre-feet per year to preserve capacity for firm customers.
The committee discussed implementation timeframes, funding opportunities (including a recent state infrastructure proposition), and the long lead times for permitting, siting and construction. No projects were authorized; staff will continue detailed study and seek funding and board approvals for any project it later advances.
