Dumb and Dumber 3 starring the L.C.R.A.

Living at Lake Buchanan has been a struggle the past 6 or 7 years, been paying waterfront taxes even though the lake was a 1/4 mile from my property.Well we finally get water and the L.C.R.A. decides to open a flood gate to keep the level at 1018 instead of the full level of 1020, only problem is the level never got to 1018, idiots!!!

Same thing happens to Choke Canyon, no matter how full Mathis lake is, Choke is required to let water out to them.

They released water so they could do some upgrades on the flood gates.

B.S. They are water nazis. They had plenty of time to do any upgrades if they needed it below 1018. I hear in June they are sending some huge amount of water down, I think they said the amount was the equivalent to 9 lake austins. I'd hate to work for those people, I'm sure they steer clear of all the eating places on or near the highland lakes. It would be different if they would just come out and tell the folks the real reasons they release. Everytime it's some off the wall reason like ducks, blue suckers, crawfish, a hurricane that "could" hit the area etc. I don't know for sure if it's true but I heard they owned farmland down there and grow rice then flood for crawfish?

They've had seven years to do the upgrades on those gates!!

They released so that if they have a significant rain event they don't flood out the lower basin having to do an emergency release. Every lake is full right now, they are releasing out of Travis as well. Think about the rain event that filled up Travis last year, if that happened right now it would be very bad. They are only going to lower it a few feet, and remember the lake was made for flood control, not recreation. Hard to control a flood if they have no where for the water to go. They aren't just releasing it to [censored] you off, come on now. I've also read that they have a summer and winter full pool, 1018 is one 1020 is the other. So technically the lake was about at capacity.

The L.C.R.A.'s mismanagement of the water before the last drought caused a lot of businesses on both Lake Travis and Buchanan to go under resulting in numerous people losing their jobs. We wonder if these two lakes were built for flood control or "Rice" control, we don't trust you guy's at all.

So what does something that happened 6 years ago have to do with the lakes being full and needing to slightly lower them in case of a major rain event? We aren't in the middle of summer yet and the chance of having a lot of rain quickly could happen this weekend.

Business might be put out under... Underwater that is...

My whole point started with the fact that they said they where going to take the lake to 1018 but they started releasing water at 1017 and it never got to 1018, I know the good people on here are tired of seeing us bicker back and forth so in closing I'd just like to say regulating the water whether the lake is low or high should not be that hard but the L.C.R.A. fails miserably at both. You can reply to this all you want but I'm done with this site and won't see it, but in closing I'd just like to say if you guy's were to take baths you would have a problem filling the tub to the right level. Lights out!!

Why did they need to take it to 1018 if they were needing to release anyway? Should everyone that lives on that lake and everyone downstream risk flood because to keep more water in there? The assumptions you have listed are misguided and have zero facts behind them. If you do a little research you can find the reasons that the lake in conjunction with other downstream reservoirs were lowered. I already said it once but what do you think will happen if we have a major rain event and every lake is full? If they can't release water people will be on here complaining about their houses flooding and asking why the lake wasn't marginally lowered to account for this. As of today Buchanan is still above 1017, so by your own numbers you are wrong. They are releasing and it it still above what you said they started at. I'll help everyone out here and post what is available on the LCRA website:

"Lake Buchanan is currently being managed to a maximum storage level of 1,018 feet msl. Under an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, conservation storage is limited to this elevation in the more flood-prone months. LCRA is currently limiting storage year-round while upgrades to the floodgates are underway."

This should answer questions about why it wasn't brought to 1020, and why it is being kept lower than what is expected. I already said this in previous posts but will leave it here again. This isn't some big conspiracy, contrary to popular belief.


Also, by the numbers more water is running into the lake than getting discharged, so it makes sense why they are still releasing.

Water wars ?

This guy must work for them

It's not just about flood control, they take it far beyond that to a nazi like water monopoly. I've heard stories of them on private property snooping around landowners wells, making family's along the river go to court to keep water rights they have had for generations, and during the low water times people who are on the lake regularly see the river come on a rise snd put a cattle guard under by 2 foot. Then the current starts on inks and the news says it came up a foot. It's The shady stuff they do that has lost everyone's trust. Well I guess not everyone there are sheep in Austin.

Yes you are correct, I work for LCRA and am on the TFF defending them......SMH. If you don't want to believe what information is available that is fine, don't really care. Regardless of what conspiracy you think has happened in the past, what they are doing right now is not only logical but the right thing to do.

So for us that don't live there, is this a story about waterfront property owners now having enough water to use their docks & such? What is the max elevation of the dam before it reaches spillway level?

Total outsider here..... last year (Twice) those of us in North Texas lost a nice trout fishery in Broken Bow, OK due to mismanagement of water levels and releases. Instead of doing pre-storm releases, they kept the water and then were forced to open the gates and destroy the river when the storms hit. We can only wish we had people as pro-active about lake levels. For those of you angry about releases, be careful what you wish for.......

The lake is full right now managing water on a wet year is like farming on a wet year. It's how they handle stuff in the dry years and the other stuff I mentioned before that has everyone I have heard from so pissed at them that it wouldn't matter if what they were doing was logical or not they still wouldn't [censored] on them if they were on fire

That is why I'm unclear why everyone is up in arms because they are lowering the lake 1 foot.....

It's a matter of trust.

I'll jump in the fire here too with Rex ... Lol
I also work for LCRA but on the generation side not the water side.
One thing y'all have to remember is these are flood control lakes not recreation lakes. I hate that people have lost business or jobs because of the lake levels but that was your call to build/work on a flood control lake. You have to know that during floods or droughts that the levels aren't going to stay constant...period!

Fire away.....

Well my point was y'all have too much power and think y'all got a lot more. The first guy was posting about the 1018 thing. And I'm pretty sure the dams weren't put up for flood controll, you can't stop a flood with a damn. People I've talked to from co-ops say that y'all don't even sell much electricity like before because you're hard to deal with. Is that true?

So will anybody answer what the flood stage is for the spillway?

It does seem odd that the first excuse was "floodgate" work and now it's drawdown due to potential flooding.

I think it is at 1020.5. But they change stories for releasing pretty often, once it was so the carp or blue sucker could have the current that it needs.

Actually that is 100% incorrect, that is a major factor to why most dams were funded and created in this state and country. Austin used to have horrible floods prior to the highland lakes chain of dams.

Not sure why all the whining about the level being 1017 or 1018? Most people that live on the lake don't wont it too close to 1020, because when the wind gets up you get big rollers tearing up their docks, seawalls, and property. Why don't we just enjoy the full lake that we have and quit crying about it.

Sorry Dude, But that's that's a Dumb and Dumber statement...

I wish I could find the economic impact study of the Highland lakes when they were proposed in the mid-30s. (I did find it years ago but can't find it now) What it read was that Travis and Buch are flood control lakes and that both were very risky for businesses due to fluctuations in water levels.

Most of the land owning old timers never complained about the water levels. Seems it is only the new comers that have issues.

Just be thankful there is water in the lakes.

Mitigating a flood , so to lesson it. When the damn was built in the 30's there was no major supplier of electricity in the area. Johnson city produced the best source. It was built to for that seeing how slowing down a surge of water wouldn't pay the bill for building it. And a you can't tell me a damn stops a flood there's over 300 miles of River from pecan bayou to matagorda. A couple of damns in a 70 mile stretch isnt gonna do much. There hasn't been any big rains lately but if it ever came a flood they wouldn't stop it. Everybody has seen pecan bayou, the Colorado, the San Saba, Cherokee creek, llano River, and sandy creek on a 30' rise. 18 or so years ago when we had a widespread heavy rain there was water over the 2900 bridge, there was a eddy so big where the llano and Colorado hit it was sucking down boat docks with boats still in them. If the river is 30' high that's flooding. Above the damn below the damn and sometimes in between, a damn won't stop that.

And I don't know where you are from but around here if the old timers are talking about water rights, people snooping around their wells or any other stunt they pull they are talking about the lcra

Y'all are starting to sound like those Aggie hay haulers so I'm just gonna quit looking at this post.

You do have a point about widespread flooding of a river basin "$hit happens" but damns do mitigate and prevent localized flooding and populated areas are one of the major areas many protect. I'd say in general water recreation and waterfront property water access was lower on the list of any lake built. Not that I would like it if I bought a house on Buchanan or Travis thinking I was going have water near all the time and didn't know they were not consistent level... The Edwards Plateau is in an a simi-arid area of the world subject to droughts... and flipping 1000 plus people move to this state everyday... which doesn't help the water situation either...

I just want to say that the word is dam, not damn.

I collect old fishing maps and literature for Texas. Ran across this a coupla months ago. Not exactly an economic impact study.....but interesting none the less.....sorry if it's tough to read.....

Better watch how you talk about LCRA. The LCRA mafia will come running with their torches and pitch forks!

The purpose of Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan is to maintain a constant level on Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls, and Lake Austin so the owners of all of the multi-million $$$ homes there won't band together and sue them because of flooding. As much as LCRA loves money, they fear it just as much.

good point Bob

I'd like to note how much rain and subsequently how many releases we have had since this thread started. Maybe it is still a conspiracy though......

Tell us, full or not full?

Still not, and won't be. You do realize mitigating a flood isn't done by having no room for extra water right?

So what you're saying is that full isn't really full because it will never be full? Just in case it might flood and if it does flood then your non-full lake will do what to stop the flood?

It isn't going to be kept at full pool when they are releasing water to mitigate flooding. What will it do when it does flood and isn't full? Capture water, exactly what it is designed to do. What is so hard about that?

So in your crystal ball forecast, when do you expect it to be full, since it can't be full because it might flood, even though it's not flooding; but hey it might. Do keep in mind that you are the one that brought the topic back up to pat yourself on the back.

Are you guys in charge of the dam at Choke Canyon too? Or are you related to the dam master? Seems to be some similarities there.

Central Texas isn't flooding right now? What planet are you on? Why are they releasing out of every lake right now, is it still a conspiracy or maybe it is because we are having a ridiculous amount of rain, just like I said might happen. Oh and closing the lakes because of how much water is being released, same conspiracy? As for patting myself on the back.....Nope, just pointing out that I was right since a few people here think that despite all the rain there is zero reason to release water.

Definition of patting yourself on the back haha

So Mr. Pat myself on the back. If you're having such massive flooding right there how are you able to keep the water low. Seems that if it was flooding it would be above full. I just love engineers such as yourself.

You two are right and I'm wrong. There is no rain and the lakes are empty due to being a foot low, even though lake Travis is flooding homes right now due to being above pool. I also work for LCRA to help explain things to people who don't understand flood control on forums....lol. You can't understand logic so I'll stop trying to explain it to you. Maybe you should contact your state rep and have them take it up with the LCRA. FYI Sen Fraiser absolutely hates them so I'll point you in the right direction to get something done about it.

Seems you aren't doing your job very well if Travis is flooding... Seems like maybe you didn't keep it low enough, huh

Last post since it's gets boring, you better hurry up and drain the lake with that big rain cloud that's over your area right now.

It's been fun.

Good grief. Too much drama.

Atleast the trash and dead bums got washed out of lady bird....

and what does any of this have to do with a fishing report?

It is flat out MONEY and GREED why some of the lake levels stay down especially on Buchanan. The weather plays a very small factor. Miss Management at it's BEST! Just my two cents.