Media contacts: Bill McCann, 1-800-776-5272, Ext. 4032, or Robert Cullick, Ext. 4086

AUSTIN -- LCRA's Board of Directors today (May 19) directed staff to take steps to extend surface water to the western Travis and northern Hays County area - in line with LCRA's mission to provide reliable, low-cost water utility service.

Meanwhile, the Board deferred a final decision on a proposed water line to the Hamilton Pool Road area to allow additional time for regional water quality planning efforts to move forward.

The Board actions grew out of a recent request by three landowners in the Hamilton Pool Road area for surface water to serve developments they are planning. However, the Board's directions to staff will involve a much wider area, including the State Highway 71 corridor.

The Board, which reviewed comments from hundreds of people on the issue, determined that LCRA has the responsibility to provide water service to the area and to do so in an environmentally sound manner.

As a result, the Board approved a lengthy resolution directing staff to do the following:

• Prepare and submit to the Board for consideration a water utility service plan for western Travis and northern Hays counties, including the Lake Austin and Lake Travis watersheds (including the Highway 71 corridor) after having received meaningful public input;
• Seek a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to become the water provider in areas of the region that do not have such certification;
• Negotiate final water service agreements with the three landowners who have requested surface water for the Hamilton Pool Road area and bring the final agreements back to the Board for approval in December 2004 in order to give regional water quality planning efforts now under way a further opportunity to move forward;
• Work with landowners in existing subdivisions along Hamilton Pool Road to determine how and when reliable surface water could be provided to them and also to present the information to the Board in December 2004;
• Offer to participate with the Hamilton Pool Road community and appropriate governmental agencies in developing a local plan to address traffic, open space, schools and other planning issues.

The Board emphasized that LCRA intends to offer surface water to undeveloped areas of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer region only when proposed developments comply with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service water quality protection measures. If local jurisdictions adopt a regional plan that establishes stricter measures, LCRA would consider adopting those stricter measures as a substitute, according to the Board resolution. The Board also emphasized that it will continue to support the ongoing Regional Water Quality Planning Project, which covers those parts of Hays and Travis counties in the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer and its contributing zone.

"We need to move ahead to do what is best for this area," said LCRA Board Chair Ray Wilkerson. "This is the right thing to do for the long term."

"This is a win for landowners and residents who need water and a win for the environment because we will extend water quality protection measures," said Joe Beal, LCRA general manager. "It is also a win for the regional planning effort that is under way and for the residents of the area."

For a number of years, landowners in the Hamilton Pool Road area and other areas near and along Highway 71 in western Travis County have asked LCRA to extend surface water because groundwater supplies often have been inadequate and of poor quality. Because of high costs and other issues, the requests did not move past the discussion stage.

More recently, however, an alliance of three landowners requested LCRA water and not only offered to cover their prorated share of costs of a water line but to voluntarily develop their properties in accordance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service water quality protection measures. As a result, LCRA and the landowners began serious negotiations and LCRA staff took the issue to the Board for consideration in April.

The Board set aside two hours at its April meeting to hear public comments both for and against the proposed water line project. Staff also held a second public meeting in early May to take additional public comment. A number of people supported extending water service because of concerns about the quality and quantity of groundwater, which currently is the sole source of water to the area. Others expressed concerns about what new development would mean in terms of increased traffic, congestion and their rural lifestyles. Many asked LCRA to hold off on the water line until a regional water quality planning process currently under way can make progress.

 

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