TCEQ officially approved the emergency order as requested by LCRA to stop releases of interruptible water from the Highland Lakes to irrigation operations in Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda counties. It comes as no surprise to Texas rice growers that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted to cut off Colorado River irrigation water to agriculture and the environment for the fourth straight year during a meeting Wednesday That action rubber-stamps an emergency water request from the Lower Colorado River Authority , the group charged with managing water resources along the 862 mile waterway.