Prolonged drought and rapid population growth in the Brazos River Basin have prompted grass-roots parties to form a coalition aimed at ensuring that lower basin interests are protected as competition for river water intensifies.
The Lower Brazos River Coalition includes concerned individuals, organizations, municipalities, ranchers and farmers, environmentalists and conservationists and businesses and industries, who are jointly responding to upstream efforts to limit water flowing downstream. The Coalition was formed in mid-January.
At 840 miles, the Brazos River is the longest river inside Texas. It sustains communities, businesses and agriculture from the high plains of the Llano Estacada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Coalition goals include ensuring sound management of the river and responding to proposals that would hold water in upstream reservoirs rather than releasing it for beneficial use downstream. In addition, the Coalition advocates for more water conservation, enforceable drought management and enhanced water supplies. A river monitoring program for the Brazos was approved last year by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This Watermaster Program is designed to ensure compliance with water rights by monitoring stream flows, reservoir levels and water use. The Brazos Watermaster program is expected to start work later this year.
With water demands expected to triple over the next 50 years, the Lower Brazos River Coalition will ensure its concerns are properly understood by lawmakers in Austin.