Public hearing Monday on draft 2017 State Water Plan

Submitted by Cameron1 on

Planning groups recommended 26 new major reservoirs (shown in Figure 8.4 from the state plan) – about 220,000 acre-feet per year from new major reservoir strategies is recommended in 2020 and 1.1 million acre feet per year is recommended in 2070. Many of these reservoir sites are off-channel, meaning that they would not be built on the main stem of the river, although they may rely on the main stem flows.

The Texas Water Development Board is holding a public hearing in Austin Monday on the Draft 2017 State Water Plan - which still includes the proposed Little River Off-Channel Reservoir near Gause.
The hearing for accepting public comment and questions is scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday, April 18, in Room 170 of the Stephen F. Austin Building, 1700 North Congress Ave. in Austin. TWDB staff will be on hand to answer questions and accept public comment.
The Little River OCR is one of 26 reservoir developments recommended by the various regional water planning groups to meet the water needs of growing metro areas over the next five to 25 years. The Region G plan to flood 4,300 acres of private land in the Beaver Creek Watershed near Gause would create a 155,812-acre-feet capacity reservoir to supply water to Williamson County and potentially other counties.
Although it was opposed by area landowners who organized the Stop the Little River Off-Channel Reservoir campaign, the Region G Planning Group board approved the reservoir as part of the regional plan last fall and the TWDB accepted it as part of the Draft 2017 State Plan approved on March 3.
The complete plan is available online at http://www.twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/swp/2017/doc/DRAFT_2017SWP.pdf.
Those who cannot attend the meeting Monday may submit comments by e-mail to to Public-Comment@twdb.texas.gov or by letter to Connie Sanders, Office of General Counsel, TWDB, P.O. Box 13231, Austin, Texas 78711-3231. The board will receive public comments on the draft plan until 5 p.m. on Monday, April 25. Altough the hearing is Monday, the comment period is already pen and written comments may be submitted at any time up until 5 p.m. April 25.
An interactive state water plan website, https://2017.texasstatewaterplan.org/statewide, was also approved as part of the draft plan and provides additional, in-depth information about water planning.