Llano River Watershed Alliance

Quote from landowner on the Llano River

I realize that some may say, “well, what’s the problem with doing this because once the 3 million gallon private lake is filled up, the water will spill over the dam and the river will run anyway. No harm done, right?”  I am not a hydrologist, but my 25+ year experience with owning 2 miles of San Saba River frontage with a great deal of irrigation upstream has taught me that the rainfall is normally not constant and is often filled with droughts and occasional floods.  The problem is that when droughts occur, the impoundments shrink or sometimes dry up.  For the river to run again, it’s like a bathtub and ALL the bathtubs upstream must COMPLETELY fill up before a drop will spill over to go downstream.  It can put a huge amount on the stress on the river’s flow to have these types of impoundments.  If the goal is to have a healthy river, in my opinion this type of application should be denied.