The "aqua cliff" may have been avoided after the Lower Colorado River Authority board voted Nov. 14 to endorse emergency drought relief that would potentially provide water downstream for southeastern Texas rice farmers.

Water Operations Committee Chairman Scott Spears said the river basin risks facing the worst drought on record—or the "aqua cliff," as he coined it—unless the board approved his proposed plan to make available 121,500 acre-feet of water for agricultural irrigation if there is at least 775,000 acre feet of combined storage in lakes Travis and Buchanan on either Jan. 1 or March 1.

The lakes' storage amounts to 860,000 acre-feet as of Nov. 14, meaning LCRA would release water downstream if existing conditions continue into 2013.

The board voted 10-4 to accept the resolution, which Spears said was essential to avoid reverting back to the 2010 water management plan that would have likely allowed at least 180,000 acre-feet of water to flow downstream.

"We have to look at it as what's in the best interest of the basin as a whole," Spears said. "It's very emotional, and we all try to do what's right even though it's not necessarily what each and every one of us wants to do."

In fact, the approved resolution is stricter than LCRA staff's proposal to set the threshold at 750,000 acre-feet yet less stringent than the proposed 800,000 acre-feet threshold amendment request from board Director John M. Franklin. His request also limited the threshold deadline to one date, March 1, but his amendment failed with less than half of the board's support.

Instead, the board is avoiding "disaster," board Chairman Timothy Timmerman said, by not reverting to the 2010 approved plan and instead opting for a plan similar to the 2012 pending plan that is circulating through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

"If we are threatened with a drought of record, this allows us to re-evaluate the situation because that just cannot happen," Timmerman said.

Opposing interests in the matter each voiced dismay at the final decision, although advocates for the Highland lakes and downstream rice farmers did not announce intentions to appeal the decision or voice disapproval if and when the emergency relief request goes before TCEQ—a necessary step before the proposed plan can go into effect in 2013.

Under the pending emergency plan, downstream rice farmers—if water does flow downstream in 2013—would be able to operate at 50 percent to 60 percent of normal capacity, said Ronald Gertson, a rice farmer and chairrman of the Colorado Water Issues Committee, which represents the rice farmers. That is welcome relief, he said, after receiving practically no irrigation water this year.

But despite the relief, Gertson said the CWIC is still frustrated that its members have to fight for water to which they claim to be legally entitled.

"That gets lost in all the rhetoric here," he said.

Janet Caylor, Riviera Marina and Lakway Marina co-owner and member of the Central Texas Water Coalition, expressed equal dismay toward the board's decision, suggesting LCRA overstepped its legal obligations by not providing water to all the authority's firm—or guaranteed—customers such as municipalities that use lake water for consumption and public health purposes.

CTWC advocates have estimated that if no more water flows into the river basin, lakes Travis and Buchanan will enter into the worst drought on record, she said.

"The rice farmers are being treated as firm customers despite what the law says," Caylor said. "And now the lake area stands to lose thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue and property value."

The recommendation will next be forwarded to TCEQ for approval. If TCEQ's executive director agrees to hear the proposed emergency drought order, the commission has 20 days to approve or deny the request.