Mayor: MF not free from water problems

February 05, 2013, 9:00 pm by Adam Troxtell

After the Lower Colorado River Authority decided on an emergency drought order that firm water customers favor, the mayor of Marble Falls has reminded council members and citizens that the struggle with water issues is far from over.

During Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Mayor George Russell took time after a presentation that addressed Marble Falls' water management to say there might be more hurdles for the city to jump over.

Last month, the LCRA Board approved an emergency drought order that set an 850,000 acre feet threshold for water in lakes Buchanan and Travis to be released downstream to rice farmers this spring. That was after the board had approved a threshold of 775,000 acre feet last November, much to the displeasure of officials in Marble Falls and of other cities that are LCRA firm water customers.

"That was signed for one year, so it means next year we'll go through this again,” Russell said. "So, it's something we'll need to stay aware of as we move forward.”

Russell said another thing that worries him is the recent announcement that the LCRA will be building new reservoirs to service communities and south Texas rice farmers at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. In a presentation earlier that evening, City Manager Ralph Hendricks said the LCRA will use loans, grants or other sources of funding to build the reservoirs.

"That phrase ‘or other sources of funding' could mean that comes from us, depending on how much they want to charge us per acre feet,” Russell said. "Where does that come from?”

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.