Why has Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) determined that the Lavaca Navidad River Authority’s Application 13728 administratively complete to dam the Lavaca River and divert up to 96,022 Acre Feet per year for industrial use when:
- There has not been one study of the environmental impact to its environmentally sensitive ecosystem from damming the last naturally flowing Texas River to the Gulf?
- We do not know what this will do to the sensitive ecosystem? What will this do to the fish and wildlife of the coastal plains and the Lavaca and Matagorda Bays? Floodplains and floods are an important part of the Lavaca River to nurture the fish, wildlife, and plants to survive and reproduce.
- We do not know how far and how much increased salinity travel up the Lavaca River?
- We do not know the effects on the underground freshwater aquifers and recharge zones that are dependent on freshwater flooding? Will the aquifers become more brackish?
- We do not know about sediment and nutrient loading?
- We do not know what the LNRA done to “coordinator for managing and monitoring water quality in the Lavaca Basin?” This is part of the LNRA’s stated mission.
- We do not know how this will affect the fishing for redfish, speckled trout, flounder, and other popular sport fish in both the Lavaca and Matagorda Bays.
- We do not know the resulting financial impacts for the communities along Lavaca and Matagorda Bays.
This is no small diversion of water. It is a massive 31 billion gallons of water being diverted each year. The average annual flow of the Lavaca River is approximately 600,000 acre feet. The proposed water diversion of 96,022 acre-feet is almost 1/6th of the annual flow of the Lavaca River. That is almost 2 months of water flow each year.
The TPWD has designated the coastal waters not specifically names as Major Bays or Bait Areas as Nursery Areas which would include parts of the ecosystem of the Lavaca River upstream just south of HWY 616. Few sites along the Texas coast match this estuary for its wildlife spectacle. Thousands of herons, egrets, spoonbills, ducks, bitterns, woodstorks, and shorebirds milling in, above, and around these marshes will thrill even the most stone-hearted observers. The habitat includes herbaceous, shrub, and forested wetlands which perform a vital function – to preserve coastal marsh and estuaries, and riparian woodland that are essential habitat for numerous plant and animal species. Included in the habitat is subtidal and unconsolidated bottom estuaries. The shallow estuaries support surrounding emergent wetlands and numerous species of aquatic wildlife, including blue crab, shrimp, shortnose gar, red and black drum, American Alligator, and mullet.
These intertidal wetlands experience irregular to regular flooding imperative to a healthy habitat along the entire ecosystem of the Lavaca River and Lavaca and Matagorda Bays.
CALL TO ACTION AND SAY NO DAM ON THE BEAUTIFUL LAVACA RIVER.
- Request a contested hearing with the TCEQ
- Call your State Representative
- Call your State Senator
- Call the Governor’s Office
- Call your local newspaper
- Call your local TV Station
- Visit lavacariverdam.com for more information
- Submitted by Tad Mayfield
