President’s Letter July 14th, 2026
Just in time, normal pool has returned, but for how long?
Statewide we have been suffering from drought in 2025 and now again in 2026, so it is great to see Lake Conroe at normal pool (201 ft) today. We did reach 201 ft mid-June but, it lasted only two weeks before evaporation and San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) water withdrawals, currently at about 20 million gallons per day, took us below normal pool again on June 29. Today’s heavy rain will certainly help a lot as we enter summer’s hottest period.
LCA’s concerns about water conservation and eliminating any amount of water waste are not exaggerated. The lake was below normal pool for over nine months from late August 2025 until mid-June this year. We now enter the summer high evaporation period, which typically lowers the lake 15 – 30 inches, until normal Fall and Winter storms hopefully replenish the lake. We say hopefully as due to moderate drought in 2025 it did not happen.
In the April SJRA Board meeting, local resident Bill Beran called attention to a study currently in SJRA files that summarizes sizable negative impacts of a water withdrawal rate slightly less than the present SJRA withdrawal rate combined with a drought like 2011/12. The resulting impact on lake levels and likely restrictions on water supplies are very severe. The study estimated a lake level reduction of 16 feet or 185 ft msl due to drought and withdrawals! We have included Bill’s presentation on our website at: https://lcatx.org/ .
In my February 18 President’s letter, I indicated that the LCA had obtained copies of emails between the City of Houston (CoH) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) asking on how prerelease lowering could be classified as a “beneficial use”, asking TCEQ not to classify prerelease as waste, and how to do this without any public review. I indicated in my letter to you that if we did not get an adequate explanation or commitment for public review on lowering, we would be asking you to take further action by raising our concerns with the TCEQ and Governor Abbott.
Shortly afterwards, on March 2nd, I was invited to a meeting with the SJRA GM and one SJRA Board member. I expressed the LCA’s position on how these emails further diminished trust in the SJRA and CoH. The private discussions with TCEQ on lowering were very inconsistent with past joint meetings and open discussions about all lowering programs since 2018.
That meeting, as well as follow-up meetings with State Representative Will Metcalf and Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough held separately with the SJRA, resulted in verbal commitments from the SJRA that all future efforts regarding lowering would have public notice and review as in the past. We are still waiting on SJRA written plans and subsequent meeting dates but did want to provide an update on the positive discussions.
Hydrilla Status – the northern potion of the lake continues to struggle with both Hydrilla and several other invasive species. Hydrilla spraying has been underway but SJRA spraying suffered setbacks due to equipment problems. These hopefully have now been remedied. We are awaiting the results of the May Texas Parks and Wildlife Department survey which should be published soon on our website. Boaters should avoid these heavily infested areas to avoid fouling their props and intakes and unintentionally spreading the infestation.
A new LCA funded technical study on the effectiveness of lowering Lake Conroe for flood mitigation is in final draft. This update, funded by donations, will be ready for public review and discussion by early August. It is an update of the 2020 LCA / Blyel study and takes advantage of new regional rainfall models and better flooding modeling and the new FEMA flood maps. We intend to hold an LCA mid-year Townhall in August to review and discuss the results. The new report and a summary will also be made available to the SJRA and the public via our website in late August.
On July 1, the LCA committed to a one-year contract with Monarch Weather Services which provides highly localized weather forecasts for many public and private businesses to protect their assets. The service will cover the entire Lake Conroe watershed with the goal to provide much more accurate rainfall forecasts impacting Lake Conroe. We are now working on how this information can be communicated as needed to LCA members.
Finally, I want to confirm the LCA’s staunch support for the Save Bird Island Initiative (SBI) which was recently organized and is well underway. Bird Island has been a well-known unique Lake Conroe nature habitat for many years but is now almost fully submerged and soon to be lost due to significant erosion. The LCA is assisting the SBI founders and SBI Board by providing technical advice, providing an LCA Board member on the SBI Board, and a donation of $5,000 to help reach their initial start-up needs. For more information, please connect to SBI via these two links: https://signup.txdockvibes.com/petition and https://www.facebook.com/madi.bullock.7 . Please support them through additional donations once they obtain their charitable designation and by signing their petition.
Stay tuned for further information.
Kevin Lacy -President of the Lake Conroe Association