LCA Still Complaining to SJRA About Lake Lowering

9/25/2025 – At this morning’s San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) board meeting, the president of the Lake Conroe Association (LCA) protested the SJRA’s latest efforts to find a suitable compromise that protects upstream and downstream interests.

LCA argued against SJRA’s request to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to increase the maximum release rate in advance of storms from 700 to 2,000 cubic feet per second – even though the increase could help prevent unnecessary releases and conserve water – two things the LCA claims to want.

Why the Need for Lake Lowering?

During public comment, Kevin Lacy, LCA president, attacked the SJRA’s lake lowering policy, which has been modified several times since Governor Greg Abbott directed the SJRA to “immediately implement” policies that protected downstream residents from flooding.

The release of 79,000 cubic feet per second from Lake Conroe accounted for roughly a third of all the water coming down the West Fork at the peak of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The resulting surge came without warning in the middle of the night.

It killed more than a dozen people; flooded more than 13,000 homes and 3,300 businesses; damaged the US59 and West Lake Houston Parkway Bridges; flooded Kingwood High School to the second floor; and ultimately cost the City of Houston an estimated $100 million in lost tax revenue. That last number is predicated on lost sales tax revenue AND a decrease of commercial and personal property taxes of 25%.

The idea behind the lake lowering strategy: create extra storage capacity in Lake Conroe to minimize the need for such massive releases in the future. That would reduce flood risk for downstream residents until the City finishes new flood gates on Lake Houston that can keep up with Lake Conroe releases. But the gates are taking much longer than originally anticipated.

Iterations of Lake Lowering Strategy

The SJRA board has modified its lake lowering policy several times in response to pushback from the Lake Conroe Association.

• At first, the policy called for lowering the lake by fixed amounts for fixed times during the spring rainy season and the peak of hurricane season.
• Then, the SJRA began lowering the lake by lesser amounts and for shorter times.
• Next, the SJRA began lowering the lake only in advance of major storms on an as-needed basis.

However, the maximum pre-release rate allowed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was 700 cubic feet per second. That was not always fast enough to lower a lake as large as Conroe significantly before storms struck.

Higher Release Rates Actually Conserve Water

So, the SJRA had to release much further in advance of storms, i.e., a week instead of 2-3 days. The excessive lead times sometimes meant that storms could veer away before they struck. Such a “false release” happened last June, according to Lacy’s testimony today.

The obvious solution was to increase the maximum allowable release rate. That would create more storage capacity faster. So, SJRA petitioned TCEQ to increase the release rate to 2,000 CFS, almost triple the previous rate, but not so much that it would flood downstream residents. And its a rate that the existing gates on Lake Houston can keep up with.

But LCA complained about that, too, even though it would minimize wasted water and inconvenience for Lake Conroe boaters.

According to Matt Barrett, SJRA’s Flood Management Division Manager, TCEQ has not yet ruled on the increased release rate.

View Live Testimony

You can view the live testimony on the SJRA website. Lacy’s public comment and the SJRA General Manager’s response take about ten minutes. Start watching at 2:13 into the video as Lacy takes his seat.

Throughout his time at the microphone, Lacy repeatedly complains about how long the City of Houston is taking to install additional floodgates on Lake Houston. Never once does he acknowledge the number of times that the lake lowering policy saved downstream residents from flooding.

Make sure you also watch the response to Lacy’s comments from Aubrey Spear, SJRA’s general manager. Spear explains how SJRA is trying to find a suitable compromise between upstream recreational and downstream flood-mitigation interests.

Spear said in regard to the increase in the release rate to 2,000 CFS, “We are committed to optimizing flood mitigation during major storm events to reduce flood impact to properties both upstream and downstream of the dam. We are adding another tool to our toolbox that could be helpful, but may never be used.” 

Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/25/2025

2949 Days since Hurricane Harvey