LCA President’s Update – May 20, 2024
What have we experienced / learned since our last update in December?
I want to first apologize for the long delay in providing an update but we have been patiently waiting for negotiations with the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) and the City of Houston (CoH) to progress and conclude regarding the Seasonal Lake Lowering Program (SLLP) and the expiration of the 2023 compromise to the SLLP. Our meetings should have started in September and finished by this January but were delayed until November and did not finish until early April. In the SJRA Board meeting on April 25th the SJRA General Manager announced that the SLLP, implemented in 2018 was now over and would be replaced with a new program called “Active Storm Management”. We are patiently waiting for either a SJRA / CoH press release or confirmation that we can release the details of the new program.
Given we have experienced a major freeze and three major rain events since this January some of these delays are expected. The January rain event was unusual in timing and the rapidity of the lake level rising to a peak of 204.12’ msl. The April / May rain event, while more normal as to timing, brought significant rainfall across a wide area causing multi county flooding. Lake Conroe rose again very rapidly to 205.11’ msl. The San Jacinto River Authority was criticized by upstream and downstream parties – given the significant high-water levels on the lake and the significant releases required to protect the integrity of the Lake Conroe Dam. Having reviewed much of the data from these storms the LCA concludes that the SJRA did a very good job handling these rain events especially given the unique factors of these storms.
The importance of the SLLP being over is that the arbitrary releases on specific dates will no longer continue. You may recall the SLLP in 2018-2021 resulted in significantly low lake levels and the release of over 40 billion gallons of water despite having no major rain event in that period. In 2022 and 2023 the LCA negotiated compromises to alter the decision criteria to lower the lake that included drought conditions, present lake levels, and rain forecasts. The result, certainly supported by very dry conditions, resulted in more normal lake levels and no SLLP releases.
The LCA is supportive of the move to “active storm management” if several key critical parts are in place by end of 2024. These critical parts include technical studies to support a “pre release” strategy, authorization by the TCEQ of increased pre storm release rates that could achieve a 6” lake level drop within a 5-day significant rain forecast, and finally the current water rights authorization from the TCEQ be altered to approve releases for flood mitigation. We agreed to a one-year implementation plan as a conditional step given the Lake Houston Dam Spillway project is now not expected to be completed until 2029. That is five years later than we were told by the CoH in February 2020 when the SLLP was extended under much protest.
Hydrilla Status – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) finished their March Hydrilla only survey. It showed significant presence of Hydrilla north of the 1097 bridge in the Caney Creek area but minimal elsewhere. An aerial full lake survey is now being done and should be complete soon. Regardless of those results the TPWD and SJRA are conducting intensive spraying tests in the Caney creek area to improve the results of spraying to control Hydrilla. Those test results plus the May aerial results will determine the 2024 program for Hydrilla.
A big thank you from the LCA – In January we launched a “Voting Member” drive with the goal to significantly increase the LCA membership list and replenish our reserve funds. The response was excellent and The LCA Board wants to thank all who contributed especially those at the $100 or more voting member contribution level. Donations are used to supplement scarce governmental funds to fight invasive Hydrilla, to support local law enforcement needs, to help with postal costs, and to fund necessary legal expenses in our ongoing efforts to maintain local control of our water resources. This summer we plan to engage our lake area business owners in a membership drive. The LCA is a 501 c3 charitable entity and membership fees and donations are tax deductible.
This letter along with additional updates on both Hydrilla and the SLLP matters can be found on the LCA website – by mid-June once the TWPD finishes their survey and the SJRA and CoH finalize the documents for “Active Storm Management”. Please go the LCA website by using this link https://lcatx.org/ .
Kevin Lacy – LCA President
The graphic above shows the significant rain events for 2024 and can be found on https://conroe.uslakes.info/Level/