Greening Austin Daily

LCRA Water Conservation Plan

9th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

Carsi’s post about the end of the dry spell reminded me that the deadline for public input on LCRA’s water plan for the next 90 years is coming up.

Here are the 3 options proposed, from LRCA’s website:

“Strategy I maximizes the benefits of LCRA’s existing water rights. At a cost of between $3 million and $5 million, it would meet projected firm water demands for at least 50 years, but would not meet firm demands through 2100. It would rely primarily on water from lakes Travis and Buchanan and through amendment of the four downstream water rights now used primarily for irrigation.

Strategy II pairs the benefits of existing water rights with significant conservation effort. At a cost of between $225 million and $525 million over 40 years, it would meet firm water demands to 2100. Aggressive conservation in this strategy would require LCRA to almost double the amount of water savings identified in the current LCRA water conservation plan adopted in the spring of 2009.

Strategy III is the most expensive option, with costs ranging from $721 million to $1.6 billion. It relies on existing water rights, current conservation programs and building one or more new supplies, such as an off-channel reservoir, desalination, aquifer storage and recovery, and groundwater importation.”

The website also notes that the deadline for public input is March 19.  You can read more about the proposed options on LCRA’s website and e-mail LCRA your thoughts at watersupply@lcra.org.