Photo by Leslee BassmanCedar Park and Leander will soon decide whether to join the newly created Highland Lakes Firm Water Customers Cooperative.
The cooperative combines various municipalities and utility districts that have firm water contract agreements with the Lower Colorado River Authority. By collaborating, the group would ideally have a unified voice for firm water customers, particularly during ongoing drought conditions that have resulted in back-to-back LCRA board decisions to limit downstream rice farmers from Lake Travis water.
Other likely members of the cooperative include municipal partners Burnet and Pflugerville as well as the Lakeway Municipal Utility District, Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 17, and the West Travis County Public Utility Agency, according to Cedar Park city documents. Austin city officials will also be involved but participate in an advisory role, city documents state.
Similar coalitions include the Central Texas Water Coalition, which represents lake-area interests during the drought debate, and the Colorado Water Issues Committee, a rice farmer–led group based out of southeastern Texas.
