Thursday, June 26, 1997
Abilene was model for state water plan, Fraser
says
By RICHARD HORN / Abilene Reporter-News
Abilene's success at solving its own long-range water problem
was a model as lawmakers fashioned a statewide plan, state Sen.
Troy Fraser said Wednesday.
"Abilene was willing to go outside its area, invest in
future water needs and buy those rights," Fraser said. "It
was used continually as a model.
"The culprit this last session was a city like San Antonio,"
he said, "where voters were not willing to invest in buying
water rights and were trying to force the state to solve the problem
for them."
Voters in Abilene, which lies in the Brazos River basin, agreed
10 years ago to purchase water from Lake Ivie, in the Colorado
River basin. Such a maneuver could be more complicated today.
Water legislation passed by the 75th Legislature allows such
existing "interbasin transfers" to continue, but makes
future ones more difficult to obtain.
"We felt that was a huge victory for our district,"
Fraser said.
San Antonio, whose voters have rejected past long-range water
programs, wanted state assistance in drawing water from the Austin
area.
"We told them, 'Y'all are going to have to do a much better
job managing your water, trying better conservation, looking for
better sources,' " Fraser said.
Lawmakers held up Abilene as an example of how the problem
can and should be addressed by local leadership, he said. The
legislation, in effect, wrote that model into law.
In past days, however, too much water instead of not enough
has been the problem for Senate District 24. The district, from
Brownwood south, was hit hard, and more problems are on the way
as full reservoirs release water.
Fraser and his family were evacuated from their Horseshoe Bay
home Sunday as waters rose at Lake LBJ, though they didn't seep
into the house. On Tuesday, the senator toured the worst-hit parts
of the district by helicopter.
Also Wednesday, Fraser said he's not currently involved in
senators' efforts to trim the powers of the next lieutenant governor.
The senators trying to rein in Bob Bullock's successor, he
said, are primarily those who've been there several years. With
a less powerful leader, the Senate could operate on more of a
seniority system, similar to Congress.
"They're interested in setting seniority rules,"
he said. "As a non-seniority senator, that's not a burning
issue with me."
Meanwhile, he said, he's more interested in working to help
elect Rick Perry, his longtime friend and former House colleague,
to fill Bullock's post.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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