HLG Directors
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Rusty Allen - Lago Vista
Harold Butler - Lakeway
David Deeds - Jonestown
John Graham - Tow
Jay Harris - Buch. Dam
Dewey Hollingsworth -
Spicewood
Will Mitchell - Austin
Barker Keith - Hills
Cole Rowland - Lakeway
Leon Seidl - Kingsland
David Steed - Austin
Pat Wendland - L'way | |
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Cyber Attack at LCRA | |
According to information provided by a former employee of LCRA, the LCRA computer system was recently subjected to several thousand attempts by an IP address in China to log onto the LCRA system. When asked about the details of the incident, an LCRA executive offered the LCRA's official response, which is as follows: "It's our practice not to discuss specifics about cyber incidents like this one, but we can say that they are relatively common. LCRA has systems in place to protect against intrusion and those systems did their job. There was no breach, no loss of data, the system wasn't compromised, and there was never a public threat."
The hacker may have been seeking information about LCRA finances or banking data. Another possibility is that the intruder was attempting to gain access to or sabotage the Texas electric power grid of which the LCRA hydro and steam power generating capacity is an important part.
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Eating Rice in the Dark | | |
The last issue of Water Matters newsletter contained an article about the study that LCRA has underway designed to project the long-term water demand and possible supply sources in the LCRA water service area. Public input to the project has been sought through meetings and through a questionnaire on the LCRA web site.
The rice industry in the lower Colorado River basin is the largest single user of water in the basin, using up to 600,000 acre-feet of water per year during the rice growing season. The water that is used for rice irrigation is "interruptible" water, or water that may not be available under severe drought conditions. "Firm" water, or that used for municipal and industrial purposes, is guaranteed by LCRA to be available through a drought as severe as the drought of record, or the worst drought in the history of the basin. Firm water is priced to users at over $130 per acre-foot, while interruptible water is priced to the irrigators in the range of $5 per acre-foot.
The prospects for a long term supply of irrigation water in the Colorado River basin are not bright. The reason is that irrigation water supplies come from two sources, run-of-the-river water rights and stored water which typically belongs to some firm water user, but which is not currently needed. As the population and industrial activity in the LCRA water service area has grown, the supply of interruptible stored water has declined. The run-of-river water rights which LCRA has purchased from various agricultural interests, represents almost three-quarters of the irrigation water supply. LCRA is currently in the process of moving these former agricultural water rights from the lower basin and converting them to municipal and industrial water rights to serve the upper basin where the population growth is occurring.
read on |
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HLG Election | | |
The board of directors of Highland Lakes Group is currently made up of ten directors, who are elected for three-year, staggered terms, so that either three or four directors are elected each year. This year, three directors' terms are expiring. These are Rusty Allen of Lago Vista, Bob Graham of Tow, and Pat Wendland of Lakeway. All three have decided to seek reelection.
The election of board members is an open election, so that qualified persons in addition to the incumbents may ask to have their name on the ballot. Candidates must live in Burnet, Llano or Travis County, be willing to take an active part in board committees, and be able to demonstrate some interest in the welfare of the Highland Lakes. Interested persons should contact Director Leon Seidl at leonseidl@sbcglobal.net.
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