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Post Info TOPIC: Push For Reg to Drop Lake Conroe Normal Pool to 198 msl


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Push For Reg to Drop Lake Conroe Normal Pool to 198 msl


Gonna let y'all know first...before I reach out to our Regional club presidents, and beyond:

The folks downstream from the Lake Conroe dam were hit hard with flooding after Hurricane Harvey. The people in Kingwood claim that over 6,000 residents were flooded out from their homes, and many businesses took losses as well. None of this was a good thing for anyone...and my prayers went out to all who suffered.

I received a phone call today from the president of the Lake Conroe Association to let me know that the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce is pushing for a pro-active response to the flooding that they received. They have created a "Recover Lake Houston" campaign to address their vulnerability to future catastrophic flooding. The folks at the Chamber are stating that the numerous cement companies along the river have deposited miles of sediment between Lake Conroe and Lake Houston, and that this sediment has re-routed the river to the point that it was a major catalyst in the recent flooding from the hurricane. This program is looking to influence our Texas legislature into acting on three proposals:

1. Fully dredge the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston to remove excessive sedimentation

2. Request/Demand that the SJRA B.O.D be expanded to include 3 new positions that would represent the Humble-Kingwood area.

3. Drop Lake Conroe's normal pool level from 201 feet above mean sea level down to 198 msl in an attempt to create a "buffer" against future flooding.

The LCA president and I both agreed with their first two bullet points...but we also both disagreed with their third point. Lake Conroe converted into a public consumption reservoir last year, with the possibility of the lake losing as much as 4 f.o.w. annually without replenishing rains. To drop the msl down to 198 could be just as catastrophic for us up here.

So the LHA CoC is in the organizational stage to strategize a letter writing campaign to their legislators. 20,000-30,000 letters from the Humble-Kingwood area (without representation from the Lake Conroe area) would have a definite influence on our State Congress...and also on the future lake levels for Conroe.

Here are two links related to this campaign:

https://ourtribune.com/headlines/martin-explains-san-jacinto-river-issues-at-tirz-meeting.html

http://www.lakehouston.org/recoverlakehouston

Please make others aware of this campaign...and the need to stand ready to protect Lake Conroe's surface levels (if it comes to that).

Thx,

Ron G

 



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Where Are All of the Carp?


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Hmmm, requires research. There's always someone that want something that's good for them, bad for others.

Sediment removal, I don't see as a bad thing if done responsibly.
Adding to bureaucracy, I'm skeptical of unless it will be beneficial and can be controlled
Demands on Lake Conroe is a whole other snake. Houston keeps growing & north communities need water. No planning I'm aware of for Livingston to water this population growth (or my mad cow made me forget) is part of the plan. I'm probably wrong there. But Livingston is supposed to be a main watershed for Houston as they paid for a huge chunk of its development back in the day.

My thoughts for the moment, I've other things to address before hitting the sack...

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Wow... I hope this doesn't actually happen, but if it did it would make much of the back thirds of the pockets around the lake in-accessible. I know that where I'm at my dock would be useless and many more around me would be also, not to mention the economic impact of businesses on the lake. It would not have mattered in this storm even if the lake had been 3 feet low they would have still had to release the same amount of water, just would have been delayed a few hours. I measured the rise as it happened and it was coming up around between 3 to 4" per hour until they got the gates opened enough to slow the rise and that took several hours. Even with the maximum release the inflow into the lake kept the level up another day before it actually started to slowly drop off.

Is the LCA planning some type of counter proposal to this recover Lake Houston campaign?

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Ned Westmoreland



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The LCA is still in the info gathering stage. They weren't even aware of this campaign until a write up of it was published in The Courier this past Sunday. Mike Bleier (LCA President) has been to a couple of meetings with different agencies to get as much info that he can. He said that the SJRA will need to stay out of this one...so it's up to all concerned to stay informed. I told him that we would help spread the word, and do what we could to help in any mitigation.

I agree that a permanent 3 foot drop would reduce a lot of access on Conroe. And also on how it would affect many lakefront docks. Robert Thierry's place would become basically inaccessible year round...and your's and Terry R's place would likely be dry at the end of every summer, after consumption and evaporation as taken its toll.

The SJRA dropped the lake over 4 feet ahead of Ike, and we never got the rains with that storm to flood. Then we didn't get the spring/summer rains to fill it back up for nearly a year afterwards. And the SJRA took it on the chin from the lakefront property owners over that one. So ahead of Harvey...the SJRA decided to not release any water, and it bit them in the posterior big time. I do not have any documentation to substantiate this...but my feeling is that a compromise will likely be that a mandate will be created that the SJRA will be required to drop Lake Conroe at least 2-3 feet ahead of every named storm going forward. I can't see it playing out any other way.



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Where Are All of the Carp?


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Sounds like the SJRA is in a classic "Dam-ed if you do and dam-ed if you don't" sort of situation. (Pun intended)

I don't think dropping the lake level going forward is going to be a good long term solution. Harvey was an un-precedented storm and while rainfall totals were just about as bad as they told us it would be. The sad thing is... I don't think any of the flood models had ever been tested with that amount of widespread rainfall. I highly doubt the SJRA had any way of knowing exactly how bad it would have been. I've seen some statements and articles saying that even if the SJRA had made a pre-emptive release before or in the first day or two of the storm that the same areas would likely have flooded anyway they would have just flooded earlier than they did.

Lowering the lake levels would hurt the property owners, area businesses, and yes, us fishermen. I get that flooding like we saw with Harvey was devastating and has caused damages worth millions, but hopefully this is the last "Harvey" we have for our lifetimes.

I don't know what the best solution is, but a permanent 3ft drop in the lake does not seem like the best solution. Let's hope for a compromise.

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I read the articles in the links to this campaign and I agree with the idea to dredge the San Jacinto in order to remove sedimentation so the river can flow freely. I also agree with these peoples desire to have representation on the board by individuals who reside downstream of Lake Conroe. But I just cannot fathom their theory of shared sacrifice by dropping the lake 3 feet. Harvey was a freak storm the likes of which we may never see again, at the least probably not in our lifetimes. Just because a bad storm blows a tree over on my neighbors car in the middle of the night, causing them to be without transportation, doesnt make me want to break out a chainsaw and cut my own tree down onto my own car so I too will be without transportation because he wants me to experience shared sacrifice. That wouldnt solve anything! I have the deepest sympathy for all the home owners and business owners who lost everything during this catastrophic event, but now is not the time to react irrationally and make matters worse for thousands of Lake Conroe property owners and not to mention the disastrous effects this would have on the ecosystem and all the wildlife inhabiting the Lake Conroe area! Just my .02

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Jason Gunter              



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The 500 year flooding event has really got folks reacting to something that most likely will not happen again. Dropping the lake level will be catastrophic for all who love lake Conroe and even if the lake would have been dropped 10 ft. we would have seen the same results. I will pass this on and do some praying as well. Also the crappie are biting in 30 ft. <:)><



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Terry Reich


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Here's a thought, if you don't want to be flooded don't live near a river or water system. As Terry said, this was a 500 year flood and may never happen again. For years the San Jac has been left alone (to my knowledge) after major flooding and additional sediment has occurred. They should be dredging it every X number of years to avoid these type of issues. When you build a lake in what is essentially a swamp (Houston) without dredging, this is what you get. Otherwise, leave Lake Conroe alone.

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"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after."


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I agree, Derek/Terry. All the man made structures obstruct what nature has in mind. Hell; Lake Conroe was a shallow valley once, Lake Livingston was a Tobacco plantation for the most part.

Dredging the downstream to keep water in the respective channels is maintenance the officials won't address because maintenance money reduces all the play money.

Maintenance on the infrastructure everywhere has been neglected for far too many decades. New talk about infrastructure work by the current administration sounds refreshing to me. We have EVERYTHING in the infrastructure that needs addressing



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