Below is this week’s digest of flood-related news affecting the Lake Houston Area. San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group Save the date. The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group (Region 6) will hold it’s next public meeting on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. You must register here to receive meeting access […]
This is the eighth in a series about Best Management Practices (BMPs) proposed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for sand mines in the San Jacinto watershed. This post will focus on the Final Stabilization Report that operators should file after mines cease operation. As we saw yesterday, operators abandon many mines with little thought […]
This is the seventh in a series about Best Management Practices (BMPs) proposed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for sand mines in the San Jacinto watershed. This post will focus on post-mining activities – what should happen after the mine ceases operations. The six previous posts have talked about: Scope and Need […]
Tropical Depression Grace at 11 AM EDT was moving West at approximately 15 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. If Grace stays on the current track, it will move between Cuba and the Yucatan. No Direct Impacts to Upper Texas Coast Expected At the present time, Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist, expects no direct […]
According to the 8PM EDT update from from the National Hurricane Center on Sunday, 8/15/2021, Tropical Depression Grace is now expected to track more westerly toward the Texas Coast. Earlier, forecasters predicted Grace would follow Fred’s path toward the Florida Panhandle. However, even if Grace remains on the new track, it would not reach the […]
This is the sixth in a series on Sand Mining Best Management Practices (BMPs) proposed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). BMPs help reduce erosion and prevent pollution, but these don’t address some important issues. Strengthening them could reduce both the magnitude and toxicity of future floods. By reducing the amount of excess […]
According to best management practices (BMPs) being proposed by the TCEQ, pre-mining planning is one of the main ways to prevent sediment from leaving a mine. So much sand piled up in the San Jacinto after Hurricane Harvey that it reduced the conveyance of the river, contributed to flooding, and cost hundreds of millions of […]
In an effort to reduce sediment escaping into the San Jacinto River from sand mines, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has issued Draft Guidelines on Best Management Practices (BMPs). Yesterday, I discussed vegetative controls for erosion. Today, I will discuss structural control. The two types often work together or in sequence. At the […]
During Harvey, millions of cubic yards of sediment moved downstream. Some came from river bank erosion. But some also came from exposed sediment in sand mines that flank both sides of the West Fork like the one below. It’s exceedingly difficult to determine the percentages that came from various sources. Regardless, sediment built up at […]
At long last, the State of Texas could soon adopt minimum setbacks from rivers for sand mining. The Lake Houston Area Flood Prevention Initiative has been working with the Texas Aggregate and Concrete Association (TACA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for two years to create a set of Best Management Practices (BMPs). […]