Posting Language
Title
Authorize negotiation and execution of an amendment to the interlocal agreement with the Lower Colorado River Authority to provide equipment and services for Austin Watershed Protection to provide and operate the Flood Early Warning System data radio network to increase the agreement by $36,000 for Fiscal Year 2026-2027. Funding: $36,000 is available in the Fiscal Year 2026 -2027 Austin Watershed Protection Operating Budget. Funding for future 12-month renewal options authorized by the agreement is contingent upon available funding in future budgets.
De
Lead Department
Austin Watershed Protection.
Fiscal Note
Funding in the amount of $36,000 is available in the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Austin Watershed Protection Operating Budget.
Prior Council Action:
November 20, 2014 - City Council approved the negotiation and execution of a 60-month interlocal agreement with the Lower Colorado River Authority to provide equipment and services to Austin Watershed Protection for provisioning and operation of its Flood Early Warning System data radio network, including a 15 percent contingency for network equipment, for a total amount not to exceed $187,158 for the initial 60-month term, with subsequent year-to-year renewal options in the amount of $10,800 for each 12-month renewal term.
For More Information:
John Beachy, Division Manager, john.beachy@austintexas.gov; Scott Prinsen, Program Manager III, scott.prinsen@austintexas.gov.
Additional Backup Information:
The City’s Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) historically experienced significant delays in rain-gauge data transmissions due to limitations in its legacy telemetry architecture, which relied on a single radio frequency and tower. These constraints created data latency of up to an hour during major events like the 2013 Halloween Flood, reducing the accuracy of rainfall inputs and resulting flood forecasts. To address these concerns, the City entered into the existing interlocal agreement with the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) in 2014 (Agreement) which enabled the transition of FEWS telemetry and database systems to the LCRA OpenSky network and a dedicated FEWS server, providing multiple receiver sites, greater bandwidth, improved reliability, and overall faster, more accurate flood-gauge data transmission.
LCRA is now decommissioning the OpenSky telecommunications network and transitioning all users, including FEWS, to its new Long-Term Evolution (LTE) platform. All 80 FEWS gauges currently rely on OpenSky to transmit rain and streamflow data to the Hydromet public website and FEWS flood-forecasting model. To maintain continuity of operations and ensure FEWS data can be transmitted and displayed, the City must amend the existing Agreement and replace all existing OpenSky radios with LTE-compatible radios. This amendment provides the necessary authority to support that transition and maintain the reliability of FEWS gauge data delivery.
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