GBRA, property owners agree to postpone lake draining, recreation to be banned

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — A temporary injunction was issued Monday by a Guadalupe County judge barring the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority from draining four area lakes and people from using the lakes for recreational purposes.

A judge ordered that the GBRA not lower the water levels on Lake Placid, Lake McQueeney, Lake Gonzales and Meadow Lake.

However, the judge also ordered that all activity on those lakes stop as of midnight Thursday.  Activity will be barred from the river between Dunlap dam and FM 1117 and between SH 80 through Gonzales County Road 143.

The order was made with the two sides in the court battle coming to a mutual agreement.

The two sides will need to designate experts to determine the actual condition of the hydroelectric dams on the river to determine the best course of action for the lakes.

The judge in the case wrote that according to Texas state law, the draining of the lakes would do financial damage to properties along the lake since it would diminish the market value of the properties and a deliberate action to draw down the lakes would require financial damages to be paid to property owners.

The two sides will return to court next month.