How Blocked Up Is Rogers Gully?

On March 1, I posted about how dredgers had moved from the East Fork to Rogers Gully. Rogers Gully enters Lake Houston at the Walden Country Club. In my opinion, it has the worst mouth bar of all the channels that enter Lake Houston, with the exception of the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto. Harris County Flood Control finished dredging the channel itself almost two years ago. But the mouth bar is the City’s responsibility.

I went back to see how much of the mouth bar remained this morning and was shocked. The two dredges are still sitting far offshore, approximately where they were on March 1.

Here are several pictures that show their position this morning, 3/11/22.

Curious about why the dredges were working so far out, I asked State Representative Dan Huberty “Why?” Huberty, who secured money for the dredging, texted back a one-line answer.

“Can’t get into Rogers Gulley without dredging their way in.”

State representative dan huberty

Wow. I knew Rogers Gully was bad. But I had no idea it was that bad. This could be like getting to the East Fork from the West Fork. It took crews three months to dredge their way through the channel south of Royal Shores that connects the two forks.

It’s been almost two weeks since they started working here. And this area is far wider than the Royal Shores channel. Rogers Gully has apparently formed a wide and long “underwater” delta that extends far beyond the above-water portion.

So in answer to the question in the headline, “How blocked up is Rogers Gully?” It’s baaaad.

This underscores the need to establish a perpetual maintenance dredging program for Lake Houston, something the Army Corps recommended back in 2018 and that Brown and Root recommended in 2000. It’s not just about recreation. It’s about ensuring long-term water-supply capacity in the lake.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/11/22

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