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Llano City Council schedules water workshops after lengthy debate on dam studies and storage options
Summary
Council members spent an extended session weighing options — dredging, raising dam height, off‑channel storage and firm water contracts — and agreed to schedule technical workshops with engineers and a water‑rights attorney to evaluate a $3.5 million grant and related studies.
Llano City councilors spent the largest portion of their March 2 meeting on water planning, agreeing to convene workshops and seek technical advice after months of study and public discussion.
Council member (S10), summarizing consultant recommendations, said the $3.5 million grant and loan package was intended to pay for studies to assess dam structural integrity and analyze the effects of raising the dam’s height. “The 3 and a half million dollar grant was instead of using our citizens' money right now to do these studies,” the council member said, adding that the grant would fund impact analyses, permitting and study work rather than obligate the city to construction.
Residents and councilors pressed a range of options: dredging to restore storage lost to sediment, raising the dam to increase capacity, rehabilitating gates and infrastructure, and pursuing firm water contracts with downstream senior rights holders. A resident and long‑time council member (S3) cautioned that raising the dam could change flood behavior and said the studies would need to model probable maximum flood conditions before the council could decide. “By the time that 300,000 CFS comes over the top of that dam, those floodgates are useless,” the speaker said.
Staff told the council that the grant funds could be used for rehabilitation work and studies and that unused grant money could be returned. Council member (S10) answered a question about contract terms: if parts of the grant were used for studies that showed construction was not feasible, the city would not be required to proceed and the unspent funds could be returned.
Council members and members of the public also discussed the city’s permitted storage (repeatedly referenced during the meeting as roughly 700 acre‑feet) and how permit limits interact with downstream rights holders and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Speakers emphasized that any effort to increase permitted storage would require coordinated permitting and, likely, an agreement with senior rights holders.
Given the technical complexity, the council directed staff to organize workshops and stakeholder meetings that would include engineering consultants and a water‑rights attorney to help explain options, fiscal impacts and regulatory obligations. Staff estimated that proposals from vendors and consultants (including design options and a menu of approaches) would be available for council consideration in follow‑up meetings.
The discussion concluded with no formal vote on a specific water action. Council members agreed the workshops were the appropriate next step for the public and for council deliberation; staff will return with proposals for the content, schedule and invited experts.
