Bay City Tribune

Irrigation water for rice farmers in Matagorda, Colorado and Wharton counties got two days of attention from the LCRA board of directors meeting in Matagorda Tuesday and Wednesday.

About 70 rice farmers, state and local elected officials, business people with a stake in the rice industry and in LCRA water supplies appeared before the board Tuesday afternoon, aiming to steer it away from a decision to sharply curtail irrigation water in 2010.

Taking those viewpoints into consideration, board members had a lively discussion Wednesday morning on balancing the irrigation needs of the farmers and looking out for municipal and industrial customers - in the face of the prolonged, severe drought in central and south Texas.

The board delayed a decision on staff recommendations for an emergency revision to the state water management plan to curtail irrigation water until at least Nov. 10, when a special board meeting is slated.

In the meantime, LCRA General Manager Tom Mason and his staff will continue studying the firm-water and interruptible customers. Rice farmers who depend on LCRA irrigation water are considered interruptible customers while firm-water users include cities and industries.

While irrigation water is interruptible, it has never been interrupted.

LCRA board of directors chairman Rebecca Klein stressed Wednesday that any decision still goes to the Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ), which administers the water plan.

The remarks from local farmers and officials Tuesday were in response to LCRA staff warnings that the levels in the two Highland Lake storage reservoirs - Buchanan and Travis - were below the 1.1 million acre feet trigger point for curtailing interruptible irrigation water for rice farmers in the three counties, under the state-approved, water-management plan.

Most alarming for farmers was a meeting with LCRA water management staff Thursday morning, Oct. 15. At that meeting, the staff made the surprising proposal that even when the lake levels returned to capacity - about 2 million acre feet in Buchanan and Travis - the amount released for rice farm irrigation would be for about half of the rice acreage in 2009.

Farmers said they believed such an action would halt rice farming in 2010 and force some from the business.

LCRA staff, in turn, explained those measures were developed to protect the firm-water obligations to cities and industries.

The reaction to the comments from the rice farmers and others Tuesday afternoon was positive - both from the LCRA board members and the speakers.

Board spent nearly two hours Wednesday morning discussing what they heard the previous day and came up with diverse suggestions to help the farmers - and all interests upstream and downstream of the Colorado River in the face of what many weather experts now are calling the drought of record in Texas.

Two LCRA directors with key roles in this issue are John Dickerson, from Bay City, and Linda Raun, a Wharton County director who is in the rice farming business.

Dickerson urged staff at Wednesday's session to provide more information to rice farmers on irrigation water available - in light of the proposed curtailment - for the first and second crops.

Staff reports show there is a difference in how much water is released on each crop - both of which are important to farmers in clearing a profit.

"They need to know to plan ahead," Dickerson said.

"We need to think outside of the box," Raun told the board, following Dickerson's suggestion. "There has to be more than just LCRA" in getting irrigation water to farmers, such as developing outside resources, she noted.

Klein agreed that LCRA should work on "how to explore that further."

Another board member recommended that staff develop more trigger points on which to act when the lake levels reach crucial stages - using four to five steps versus the present one or two.

With more trigger points, farmers would be better informed and prepared on what actions are expected and less apprehensive that they wouldn't get any water, the director suggested.

Director Franklin Scott Spears Jr., from Travis County, asked staff about the 45 percent water loss that occurs from when the water leaves the Highland Lakes and when it arrives in the rice fields.

Much of that water, staff explained, is primarily lost to evaporation and other directors noted that improving the delivery of irrigation water should be studied.

Dickerson added that evaporation also was an issue in getting water to the firm-water customers.

Mason told directors that his staff is "committed to doing our best to keep you informed."

To underscore the complexity of monitoring the lake levels to determine what curtailment action to take, Mason said that during the historic Texas drought of the 1950s, heavy rains brought the lake levels up at one point, only for them to fall back later.

"We have to take a very conservative, cautious approach," Mason said, indicating that LCRA staff has to build scenarios, like the '50s drought, into its planning.

Bay City Mayor Richard Knapik and Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald greeted the board as it convened Wednesday morning.

"I appreciate everything you have done over the years" to protect the Colorado River water, Knapik told the board.

"I know you will do the right thing. You have been good stewards."

McDonald followed up, saying, "I know you have a hard decision to make in the next 30-45 days."

"I hope you will heed the remarks" of the speakers from the three rice farming counties Tuesday, he added.

Klein concluded Wednesday's discussion by noting a remark she said came from Ed Halpin, chief nuclear officer for STP.

Klein told the board that WE are the most important two letters.

All of LCRA stakeholders - upstream and downstream - must be part of the board's decision, she added.

"It's something we all have to remember."