President’s Letter October 8th, 2026

Lake Conroe Association Presidents Letter – October 8, 2026

I want to thank those that were able to attend our midyear Townhall on August 26 at the
Conroe / Lake Conroe Chamber office. I want to give an update on two of the four topics
presented then as well as short commentaries on two new developing issues.

Before discussing our most significant accomplishment this year I want to provide some
context and detail on efforts to continue to attribute a material role in downstream
flooding to Lake Conroe. The LCA continues to be a staunch supporter of any project
providing flood relief in the Kingwood / Humble Lake Houston area. The proposed Lake
Houston Spillway Dam gates expansion will offer a significant improvement in
increasing drainage from Lake Houston – if built. It was originally promised to be
operational by 2024 but it is still in the design stage. It will require significantly more
funding than initially thought. It is now forecasted to be operational no earlier than 2030.
In the meantime, no other flood mitigation project along the West Fork has been
initiated despite several being identified that could provide significant improvement in
decreasing storm inflows into Lake Houston. This lack of any progress on desperately
needed flood mitigation projects is why pre storm lowering of Lake Conroe for flood
mitigation is still being considered.

In 2020 the SJRA along with several other entities initiated a “Joint Reservoir
Operations” study to be completed by 2023 (source SJRA). The study is still underway,
three years later than planned. Three meetings to review progress were scheduled for
2026. The second one is scheduled to be held November 5 th at 6:00 PM in Conroe at
the Lone Star Convention and Expo Center. We strongly encourage area residents to
attend and to learn about the study and ask questions of the SJRA staff working on the
study. Please check the SJRA website.

Last December the LCA Board, seeing the significant delays with both the Lake
Houston Spillway Dam project and the Joint Reservoir Operations study approved
funding for a new comprehensive technical study to assess the effectiveness of
lowering Lake Conroe. Previous studies including a 2020 LCA sponsored study which
concluded that lowering has “no material effectiveness” in reducing flood crests or areal
flood footprints in the Lake Houston area. However, the study’s conclusions were
ignored as several lowering programs running from 2020-24 resulted in 46 billion
gallons of water being released from Lake Conroe with highly debated benefits and
claims of full water waste.

The new LCA study, conducted by Bleyl Engineering, was completed in August on
schedule. It is the first comprehensive new study of lowering using best available rainfall
and drainage models. The results were summarized in our Townhall in August and the final summary slides are now available for review on the LCA website. The key
findings are:
The study concludes that the only areas to receive effective flood benefits
resulting from lowering Lake Conroe are immediately downstream from Lake
Conroe Dam.

Downstream flooding mitigation benefits attenuate (“dissipate”) significantly as
runoff travels further downstream from Lake Conroe.

Lowering Lake Conroe does not effectively reduce flood levels or inundation
extents at Kingwood and Lake Houston. The study concludes that flooding
severity in this area is significantly more influenced by other uncontrolled
tributaries.

It is hoped that this definitive, up to date study will end the debate on using Lake Conroe
lowering as an option for distant downstream flood mitigation. We are now setting up
1:1 meeting with the SJRA and City of Houston representatives to discuss the study. We
also will brief our local and regional elected representatives on the new study.

Hydrilla and other Invasives – we are currently waiting on the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department (TPWD) Fall survey but are sure it will show significant growth in
both Hydrilla and other Invasives compared to 2025. This is due to warmer water
temperatures spurring growth and delays in spraying by both TPWD and SJRA in
August and September. It is our intent that when the 2026 survey and 2026 spraying
programs are discussed in the Lake Conroe Habitat Advisory group, we will address the
2026 problems, restocking numbers for Grass Carp, and improving communication
during spraying season.

The LCA is now in the planning stage for our efforts and priorities in 2027. In addition to
the two topics above, two new issues have been brought to our attention by LCA
members.

The question of impact of runoff pollution and significant volumes of effluent from sewer
treatment plants has been raised. The LCA will investigate the potential problem and
determine if a study and or a level of independent testing is needed. It will be several
months before we can develop a position and recommend a plan if one is needed.
We were just alerted that a program of oil and gas lease sales near Lake Conroe and in
the Sam Houston National Forest is being moved forward for approval in early 2027
with limited public review. This issue had previously come up in 2016 and all relevant
parties including state and federal government agencies decided to freeze leasing. We
will start our research and report back as soon as we have clearer information.

We encourage you to visit our website at https://lcatx.org/ to review the new
study, ask questions, and join as a member or make a further donation to fund our
efforts to protect Lake Conroe and your interests. The LCA is a 501 c 3 nonprofit and
your donations are tax deductible. Send any questions or comments to
[email protected].

Kevin Lacy – President of the Lake Conroe Association –  [email protected]