Firm water customers include municipalities such as Cedar Park and Leander as well as water utilities, who have first claim on the Highland Lakes' stored water supply. Interruptible customers, such as downstream rice farmers, can have their water supply interrupted during water shortages.
The new drought rate, an increase from $151 per acre-foot to $175 per acre-foot, will be temporary and includes only the January through December 2015 billing cycles, LCRA Executive Vice President John Hofmann said. However, the rate hike may be reduced should the drought subside and revenue rises, he said.
"The goal [of the drought rate] is the full cost recovery of LCRA's water operations," General Manager Phil Wilson said.
The rate increase was necessary because most LCRA interruptible customers have not received any stored water during the past three years because of emergency restrictions, and LCRA has been unable to recover those operation costs, Wilson said.
Local response
Sam Roberts, Cedar Park assistant city manager, said LCRA's temporary drought rate in 2015 will cost the city an additional $350,000. City leaders are evaluating how the increase may affect utility bills for Cedar Park residents, Roberts said.
"[We] will be making a recommendation to city council later this fall on possible adjustments to water rates," he said.
Roberts said LCRA's temporary rate is more appropriate than LCRA's proposal in February to raise the raw water rate from $151 per acre-foot to $179 per acre-foot for firm water customers. LCRA also proposed raising water rates for cities to $185–$192 per acre-foot in 2016, with further rate increases through 2019.
Leander City Manager Kent Cagle said Leander does not plan to raise water rates for residents in 2014 or 2015. The city's current rates already allow for LCRA's 2015 cost increase, he said.
"While [LCRA's cost increase] does increase our expenses, we don't believe that it's enough to cause us to increase rates," Cagle said.
In 2007, LCRA approved selling the city of Leander the rights to 24,000 acre-feet of water annually, the amount Cagle said the city anticipates using when the population reaches 200,000. In 2013, the city paid $2.2 million to reserve 24,000 acre-feet of water and used 4,591.1 acre-feet, Leander Public Works Director Pat Womack said.
Drought of record avoided
Because of late spring rains, LCRA officials predict the Highland Lakes will not hit their lowest levels in history until at least fall, meaning combined storage in lakes Travis and Buchanan will likely remain at more than 600,000 acre-feet, the point that triggers the drought of record. By fall El Nino weather patterns could bring drought relief similar to what the region experienced in 2009, LCRA Meteorologist Bob Rose said.
"We're not at El Nino yet, but we're getting really close," Rose said, explaining how water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean have slightly increased, typically resulting in a stronger storm season. "I'm very encouraged the weather pattern is going to change in September and October."
In the meantime Rose said he predicts the Austin area will struggle through another dry summer, with temperatures 1–2 degrees above normal and at least 40 days of 100-degree weather anticipated.
"That's not a great forecast, especially with such a serious drought like this," he said.
As of July 3, the Highland Lakes' combined storage stood at 793,651 acre-feet.
Should the lakes reach the drought of record, all LCRA firm water customers are required to drop their water usage by 20 percent compared with a 2010–11 standard.
The city of Cedar Park has already begun to address water conservation. In March, Cedar Park City Council approved the city's updated water conservation plan, with intentions to reduce the city's daily water usage by 2.5 percent in 2014. On June 26, City Council heard the first reading of another modified conservation plan with a goal to decrease water use from 104.5 residential gallons per capita daily, or GPCD, to 101.9 GPCD by 2019. City Council approved the conservation plan July 10.
Leander residents are already using less water, Cagle said.
"LCRA will [take into account] the growth in population that has occurred since 2011," he said. "Couple that with the lower use that we are already experiencing, and we will be very close to a 20 percent reduction."
The big picture
Much debate remains on the best method for managing the Highland Lakes. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in mid-May rejected a proposed water management plan submitted by LCRA. TCEQ instead drafted its own proposed management plan, which added data from 2011–13 to take into account heightened drought conditions since LCRA first began its management planning process.
"TCEQ is proposing a very comprehensive drought-management regimen [that] includes more stringent curtailment [requirements] with a higher limit on when interruptible water releases would be completely curtailed, depending on the severity of drought conditions," TCEQ Executive Director Richard A. Hyde wrote in a letter to LCRA.
If the state-proposed plan gains approval, downstream rice farmers would be cut off sooner rather than forcing LCRA to request emergency drought relief—as it has each of the past three years. The plan also sets higher trigger points for reinstating water to agricultural users in the lower Colorado River basin.
State Sens. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, applauded TCEQ's decision to strengthen the standards for releasing water downstream. LCRA in 2011—the last year water was released downstream—sent 367,985 acre-feet of water to agricultural users. In 2011 the city of Cedar Park used 15,786 acre-feet of water, according to LCRA. The city of Leander used 4,881 acre-feet of water, according to the city.
"The [TCEQ] executive director sent a strong signal by agreeing that LCRA's proposal for water management during drought falls woefully short of what is needed to protect firm water customers," Watson and Fraser said in a joint statement.
TCEQ and LCRA officials will continue meeting through the summer to discuss details of the state-proposed plan before taking any proposal to the public for comment sometime this fall.
Additional reporting by Leslee Bassman and Stephen Burnett
