As an “emergency” meeting, LCRA didn’t have to follow the state’s 72-hour posting rule. Mitch Thames, the president of the Bay City Chamber of Commerce, said he was upset that the LCRA gave so little notice about today’s vote. Cutting or curtailing freshwater inflows could be ecologically dangerous.įolks in Matagorda Bay, where rice farming and eco-tourism are critical to the local economy, have been largely on the losing end in the fight over a dwindling amount of water in the Colorado River. Levels right now sit at 32, just a couple notches below the salinity of the Gulf. It’s critical for their survival.” She said that the most recent science suggests that maintaing a salinity level of 25 parts per thousand during extreme drought is important for bay health. “Ninety-seven percent of the fish and shellfish species use Matagorda Bay at some point in their life cycle. “It’s survival mode,” said the Sierra Club’s Jennifer Walker. If no water flows into the lakes, LCRA doesn’t have to release any water downstream for the environment. Runoff generated from rainfall downstream of the lakes can count against the 14,000 acre-feet total. Under LCRA’s water management plan, the water authority must generally let a bare minimum amount of water flow down the river into the bays each month.
So-called environmental flows are critical to the health of Texas’ estuaries and bays. Across the state, the drought is intensifying fights among communities reliant on a shrinking pool of water. The discussion comes as levels in lakes Travis and Buchanan, the drinking-water source for Austin and other Central Texas communities, approach historic lows. To take that drastic step, LCRA would have to get permission from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In a hastily-called meeting today, the Lower Colorado River Authority board of directors considered whether to cut off releases of freshwater to Matagorda Bay, a potentially devastating move for the freshwater-dependent bay system and another blow to a community increasingly crippled by the drought.Īfter hearing objections from environmental groups and an emissary from Matagorda County, the board voted to release water in September but made the first step toward choking off environmental flows for the rest of the year.
0 kommentar(er)
