Texas state lawmakers plan to reevaluate the purpose of the Upper Guadeloupe River Authority (UGRA) after it was revealed that after nine years, no river monitoring system was implemented even though it had the funds to do so.
At a state legislative hearing in Kerr County on Thursday, Bill Rector, president of the UGRA Board of Directors, said that the UGRA had reserve funds to pay for a system it wanted to implement but instead applied for third party grants that were denied since 2016.
The UGRA monitors the Guadeloupe River in Kerr County and flood gages, and shares the data with the U.S. Geological Service and National Weather Service. The UGRA attempted to implement flood prediction warning systems and studies and applied for grants through the Texas Department of Emergency Management in 2017, 2018 and 2019, which were denied, he said. It also participated in a flood plan, but no outside funding came, he said. The UGRA is funded by taxpayers.
In 2023, the UGRA “renewed its focus on flood warning strategic planning,” Rector said, invited a hydrologist, “resolved to develop software solutions” and add additional rain stream gages. A plan was presented to the board last November, which was approved. It also applied for a Texas Water Development Fund grant to cover half of the cost and only received funding for 5%. The board rejected that proposal.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Ray Hilbrich
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
