General manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority

Created by the Texas Legislature in 1934, the Lower Colorado River Authority manages the water supply for residents, farmers and businesses along 600 miles of the Colorado River from San Saba to the Gulf of Mexico.

The agency manages those supplies during both floods and droughts throughout the region and also sells electricity and water to more than 40 utilities. According to LCRA, that electricity service area covers nearly 30,000 square miles and serves more than 1 million people in 55 counties.

General Manager Becky Motal has worked for LCRA for 27 years. Among other aspects, her job includes working to educate customers on the importance of being aware of their water use, how to conserve water and how to make the best use of limited water supplies during a drought.

"I think education is the most important thing we can do—get people aware of where their water comes from," Motal said when she visited Community Impact Newspaper. "Water is a precious commodity, but we all need to be mindful that it needs to be shared. Know what your water restrictions are and follow them. Be a leader. Be an example."

What is the "drought of record," and how do we compare to that now?

The drought of record is a term, but it also references a period of the worst drought in Texas' history, from the period of about 1947 to 1957. We benchmark any drought against that. We are currently in a very serious drought.

In our opinion, we are not in a drought worse than the drought of record, but if this continues into next year with the very significantly low inflows into the Highland Lakes, we could potentially hit that trigger, and our board would be asked to declare a drought worse than the drought of record.

What mandatory curtailments would take place if we were to hit that point?

The base plan—developed in early 2000, filed with the [Texas Commission on Environmental Quality] in 2003 and approved in 2010—dictates curtailment curves as to how we manage the lakes. It's based on inflows into Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan.

At certain levels of combined storage in those lakes, we have certain triggers. We ask people to conserve or, we start limiting some flows. We may start to curtail interruptible flows.

If [combined storage] hits 600,000 acre-feet, in our existing water management plan, we would be required to ask the board of LCRA to declare a drought worse than the drought of record. All firm customers would be curtailed up to 20 percent.

How is the state's energy shortage related to water?

The state has for the last two or three years—mindful of the fact [that] with the new unregulated, competitive market—there hasn't been a lot of new generation built. And with a growing state, how many of us really think that you can live without electricity? You can't.

You can't get water to people without electricity—we need energy as much as anything else, especially when it's 108 degrees and we would like to turn the air conditioner on. There is a lot of discussion about, 'Are we resource-constrained in the market here?'

There's as much need for new generation now. The good news is, public power, like Austin and certainly LCRA, we're replacing one of our plants that's up in the Horseshoe Bay area with a combined-cycle plant that will be a lot more competitive. There are some power plants being built, but at some point, as the reserve capacity goes down, we don't want to have rolling brownouts during the summer.

You have to have a steady state supply. That's another area that I think the state as a whole is watching.

In regard to issues with electric customers, what is the status of the lawsuit related to Georgetown and the breach of contract by LCRA?

[There are] actually three different kinds of lawsuits. Several customers gave us notice that they were going to terminate. They said LCRA had breached [its] contract. We said we didn't breach the contract, and a judge in Travis County several months ago said LCRA did not breach the contract.

Cities have the ability to claim sovereign immunity—basically, 'I'm a government entity. I don't have to pay for services.' We had won that argument that they don't have sovereign immunity in one court, and we lost it in another court. We're still at the end of the day trying to say, 'We didn't breach, and you owe us damages because we counted on your contracts for at least the next three to four years.'

New Braunfels [has] sued us, so they can't claim sovereign immunity. We're in court about, 'Did we breach or not breach, and what are the damages?' We'd love to work it out. These are people that we've known, and we value our customers. A lot of it's driven by the fact that market prices are low, and people are taking advantage of short-term contracts. LCRA is a long-term provider.

How can residents help conserve during the drought?

Be mindful of how you use water. If you've got a water leak, get it fixed. Watch your irrigation system. Water only when you're supposed to, and water only during the hours you're supposed to—don't water at noon when it's 100 degrees outside.

It's not about the rice farmers anymore. Right now the only thing draining Lake Travis is the city of Austin and a little bit of environmental flows, so it's us, and we have to be mindful of that.

Every water drop that we can save helps us extend the amount that we have available. It will rain again; I've worked at LCRA for 27 years and we've had more floods than droughts, so it will rain again.