LCRA cuts water off for agriculture

As the drought continues in Wharton County, another blow was handed down to agricultural producers as the Lower Colorado River Authority closes the tap for interruptible water.

Lakes Travis and Buchanan, north of Austin, supply the lower Colorado River basin areas such as Wharton, Colorado, and Galveston counties with water for municipal, commercial, and agricultural use. Those lakes are at 63% of their storage capacity as of the July 1 evaluation and, as such, the LCRA has interrupted water flow to downstream agricultural producers to maintain the basic supply for cities and businesses.

Given the prolonged drought, measures being taken to preserve water aren’t surprising at this stage.

“It was anticipated given the circumstances and demand on water from cities. That demand increases every year,” Texas Rice Council policy advisor Dwight Roberts said Tuesday.

While not ideal by any means, the interruption won’t be the end for producer’s crops this year, it will be uncomfortable for those producers eying a second crop though.

“(This) is not what we want, (rice) supports us and our communities, but we can survive. That will not be the demise of the industry ... I don’t want to downplay it for folks with a second crop, but it is what it is in this drought. It’s terrible for all of us. Hopefully we’ll get rain or they have ground water to irrigate a second crop. We’re not going to lose all our second crop acres due to the cut off,” Sandy Creek rice farmer L.G. Raun said.

“The decision isn’t a surprise. Although farmers will suffer the consequences from the cutoff. (The LCRA’s) policy is well known and its sad that we’ve had the weather we’ve had. A lot of crops will suffer from this, not just rice ... Traditionally second crop rice is a profit center, it grows back from the stubble. Some fertilizer is applied but input costs are much less, traditionally ... When you take that profit center out of the mix, it takes away some of their way to make a profit this year,” owner/partner of East Bernard Rice Marketing Jay Davis said.

The LCRA is also requesting a 5% decrease in water use from their municipal water customers to help maintain water levels.

“We have plenty of drinking water supplies available in the Highland Lakes, but we need to start tapping the brakes on water use because we don’t know when this drought will end,” LCRA vice president John Hofmann said in a press release.

The storage lakes haven’t been full in more than a year and a half the LCRA reports.

The Hill Country watershed that recharges the lakes has been experiencing D4 drought, which means at or near historic levels, in part since April as reported by the U.S. Drought Monitor.