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LCRA owns the water right for some 382,000 acre-ft. of water, which is the estimated annual yield of the two reservoir lakes of the Highland Lakes, i.e., Lakes Buchanan and Travis. As population has grown in the Colorado River basin, principally in Travis, Williamson and Hays Counties, the demand for municipal water supplies has grown steadily. The point is approaching at which all of the LCRA's existing water supply will be committed to some city or industrial user. As that point in time gets closer, LCRA will have the obligation to identify and evaluate new, additional water sources in order to continue to meet the future growth of demand for water in the LCRA water service area. Expected new demands from new electric power facilities have added urgency to the need for long range planning for water resources.

The Region K water plan for the lower Colorado River basin was used as the starting point in the long-range water supply planning process that LCRA began in 2008. However, The Region K plan has a relatively short-term time horizon (50 years). So, along with the Region K water plan, several other information sources were tapped, including the Capitol Area Planning Council of Governments, the Texas State Data Center, U.S Census Bureau and several City and County governments. To provide a margin of safety for uncertainties such as the possibility of a drought worse than the drought of record, climate variability, legislative and regulatory changes and escalating costs, the plan will be updated periodically.