Aug
28
Written by:
William Lutz
8/28/2009 11:10 AM
This Monday, the San Antonio Water System announced it is suing the Lower Colorado River Authority over a proposed water deal that went bust, accusing the state agency of breaching a contract with the water system. How to provide for San Antonio’s growing water needs is one of the stickiest – and most controversial – questions in Texas natural resources policy.
LCRA denies wrongdoing, and several leaders from rural Texas have already expressed concerns about this lawsuit.
We didn’t devote much ink to this lawsuit this week, though the issue of how to provide for San Antonio’s water needs is a serious one. We figured there would be plenty of opportunity to discuss this in depth once both sides had made legal arguments to the judge (so we understand the full nature of the controversy).
That said, there’s another question here that ought to be asked. Every session since I’ve covered the Legislature, we’ve passed a bill planning for Texas water needs. Yet most of those bills don’t do much. Implementing a water plan involves things like asking someone to pay for water infrastructure or condemning land for new reservoirs. And that’s the kind of things folks fight tooth-and-nail. My question is this: when will the Legislature move from planning to action on Texas water issues?