5/28/2025 – The City of Houston Public Works Department just finished clearing 100 tons of accumulated sediment from under the Deer Springs Bridge over the Kingwood Diversion Ditch. According to District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger, the space under the bridge was so tight that crews had to do the work by hand. There wasn’t enough room to bring in bulldozers.
How Deer Springs Bridge Looked in Late 2024
Here’s a before shot taken late last year. As you can plainly see, much of the ditches conveyance was lost to sedimentation and vegetation.
Kingwood Diversion Ditch Bridge at Deer Springsin September 2024
Such blockages can increase flood risk.
Pictures of Clean Out
As you can see below, crews dug out the area directly underneath the bridge by hand because they had no equipment with a profile low enough to fit under the bridge.
They also re-established rip rap.
However, the job is not quite yet done. They still must hydro-mulch to stabilize the sides of the channel.
Both upstream and downstream banks were graded to meet the elevation of the bank section underneath the bridge. Crews still have yet to remove the island in the center of the ditch. That will require equipment with a longer reach.
According to Dustin Hodges, Council Member Flickinger’s Chief of Staff, Public Works is currently developing a scope of work for this project.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/28/2025 at 7:30 PM
2829 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/20250522_110145.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=115002000adminadmin2025-05-28 19:53:112025-05-28 19:57:12City Removes 100 Tons of Sediment From Under Deer Springs Bridge
Correction: The Dredging District Bill was not voted on in the full Senate on Tuesday. It is now one of the bills placed on the Senate’s Notice of Intent for Wednesday. This is a procedural step indicating readiness for Senate floor consideration, though it is not a guarantee.
5/27/2025 – The Texas Senate may get a chance to consider HB1532 after all. If approved and signed by the governor, Rep. Charles Cunningham’s bill would create a Lake Houston Dredging District. On Monday, the Senate Local Government Committee approved the bill 7-0 after Senator Brandon Creighton testified in favor of the bill. The Committee reported the bill favorably without any amendments.
The House previously approved the bill overwhelmingly on April 30th by a vote of 114 to 19 with two abstaining.
This is the third time around for the dredging district bill. Former State Rep. Dan Huberty first introduced a variation on it in 2021. Then after Huberty retired, Rep. Charles Cunningham brought it back in 2023.
This year, however, Cunningham carefully crafted the language to eliminate objections raised in previous sessions over potential taxes and fees.
For an analysis of the bills contents, see this House report.
The District would establish a Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District that could sell bonds and receive state funding. However, it could not impose taxes or fees. It would operate only in Harris County and make money by selling the spoils from its operations for beneficial uses, such as raising home foundations, building roads, or constructing the Ike Dike.
One of the first orders of business would be conducting a funding study.
Supported by Community
The District, if approved, will lower flood risk in the Humble, Kingwood, Atascocita, Huffman, Crosby and the entire Lake Houston Areas. It will also increase the water supply in Lake Houston.
Dozens of Lake Houston Area residents wrote Senators on the local government committee as soon as the hearing schedule was announced over the holiday weekend.
Passage of the bill would help improve conveyance of the streams and channels flowing into the lake.
The Army Corps recommended maintenance dredging after it finished its Emergency West Fork Dredging Project. The reason: to help manage sediment that keeps moving downstream and settling out of suspension in the lake and its headwaters.
Dredging (along with upstream detention and more floodgates for the Lake Houston dam) was one of three main recommendations of the Lake Houston Area Task Force started by the late Humble ISD Superintendent Guy Sconzo.
Both Cunningham and District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger expressed cautious optimism for the bill’s prospects this year.
I’ll update you as soon as we know something. The Senate has more than 300 bills pending. And HB1532 is one of the last.
Posted by Bob Rehak on May 27, 2025
2828 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Senate-Local-Govt-Committee-Hearing.jpg?fit=1100%2C598&ssl=15981100adminadmin2025-05-26 22:46:322025-05-28 20:50:17Dredging District Bill Goes to Full Senate for Vote on Tuesday
Most people had given up on the bill and considered it effectively dead for this session. But when I checked this morning, there it was – on the agenda…for the holiday. So please help.
About the Bill
Rep. Charles Cunningham’s HB1532 would create a dredging and maintenance district for Lake Houston within Harris County. It would not have the power to impose taxes. But it could receive initial funding from the state legislature, and then raise additional money by selling the spoils from dredging operations for beneficial uses.
Such uses could include building the Ike Dike, raising homes out of floodplains, improving roads and more.
The Army Corps recommended forming such an entity for ongoing maintenance when it finished its Emergency West Fork Dredging Project after Harvey. It could finally become reality with your help.
How You Can Help
Given the holiday and late notice, it will be difficult for most people to testify in person at tomorrow’s hearing. But there’s another way to help.
Please thank Senator Bettencourt, the chair of the committee, and Senator Creighton, who sponsored a companion bill in the Senate.
Also email members of the committee NOW through their Senate web pages:
During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, 13,000 homes and almost half of all the businesses in the Lake Houston Area flooded. It didn’t have to be that bad. Sediment had built up for decades reducing the conveyance of tributaries.
After the Army Corps finished its Emergency Dredging project, they recommended permanent maintenance dredging.
HB1532 would enable that. It would reduce flood risk for thousands of homes and businesses – without raising taxes.
It would also increase storage in Lake Houston, which provides water to 2 million people. And that number is growing rapidly.
HB1532 is a strategic investment in the future growth of the Houston region. Please support it.
Thank you for taking the time! Please forward this post to everyone you know and ask for their help.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/26/2025
2827 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20250114-DJI_20250114091626_0721_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-05-25 17:55:582025-05-25 18:59:24Urgent Help Needed: Lake Houston Dredging District Bill Gets One Last Chance
City Removes 100 Tons of Sediment From Under Deer Springs Bridge
5/28/2025 – The City of Houston Public Works Department just finished clearing 100 tons of accumulated sediment from under the Deer Springs Bridge over the Kingwood Diversion Ditch. According to District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger, the space under the bridge was so tight that crews had to do the work by hand. There wasn’t enough room to bring in bulldozers.
How Deer Springs Bridge Looked in Late 2024
Here’s a before shot taken late last year. As you can plainly see, much of the ditches conveyance was lost to sedimentation and vegetation.
Such blockages can increase flood risk.
Pictures of Clean Out
As you can see below, crews dug out the area directly underneath the bridge by hand because they had no equipment with a profile low enough to fit under the bridge.
They also re-established rip rap.
However, the job is not quite yet done. They still must hydro-mulch to stabilize the sides of the channel.
Both upstream and downstream banks were graded to meet the elevation of the bank section underneath the bridge. Crews still have yet to remove the island in the center of the ditch. That will require equipment with a longer reach.
Next Up
Houston Public Works is also evaluating the sediment build up in the middle of Kingwood Drive in the ditch immediately west of Kingwood High School.
The build up is even worse than you saw above.
According to Dustin Hodges, Council Member Flickinger’s Chief of Staff, Public Works is currently developing a scope of work for this project.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/28/2025 at 7:30 PM
2829 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Dredging District Bill Goes to Full Senate for Vote on Tuesday
Correction: The Dredging District Bill was not voted on in the full Senate on Tuesday. It is now one of the bills placed on the Senate’s Notice of Intent for Wednesday. This is a procedural step indicating readiness for Senate floor consideration, though it is not a guarantee.
5/27/2025 – The Texas Senate may get a chance to consider HB1532 after all. If approved and signed by the governor, Rep. Charles Cunningham’s bill would create a Lake Houston Dredging District. On Monday, the Senate Local Government Committee approved the bill 7-0 after Senator Brandon Creighton testified in favor of the bill. The Committee reported the bill favorably without any amendments.
The House previously approved the bill overwhelmingly on April 30th by a vote of 114 to 19 with two abstaining.
Third Time Around for Bill
This is the third time around for the dredging district bill. Former State Rep. Dan Huberty first introduced a variation on it in 2021. Then after Huberty retired, Rep. Charles Cunningham brought it back in 2023.
This year, however, Cunningham carefully crafted the language to eliminate objections raised in previous sessions over potential taxes and fees.
For an analysis of the bills contents, see this House report.
The District would establish a Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District that could sell bonds and receive state funding. However, it could not impose taxes or fees. It would operate only in Harris County and make money by selling the spoils from its operations for beneficial uses, such as raising home foundations, building roads, or constructing the Ike Dike.
One of the first orders of business would be conducting a funding study.
Supported by Community
The District, if approved, will lower flood risk in the Humble, Kingwood, Atascocita, Huffman, Crosby and the entire Lake Houston Areas. It will also increase the water supply in Lake Houston.
Dozens of Lake Houston Area residents wrote Senators on the local government committee as soon as the hearing schedule was announced over the holiday weekend.
Passage of the bill would help improve conveyance of the streams and channels flowing into the lake.
The Army Corps recommended maintenance dredging after it finished its Emergency West Fork Dredging Project. The reason: to help manage sediment that keeps moving downstream and settling out of suspension in the lake and its headwaters.
Dredging (along with upstream detention and more floodgates for the Lake Houston dam) was one of three main recommendations of the Lake Houston Area Task Force started by the late Humble ISD Superintendent Guy Sconzo.
Both Cunningham and District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger expressed cautious optimism for the bill’s prospects this year.
I’ll update you as soon as we know something. The Senate has more than 300 bills pending. And HB1532 is one of the last.
Posted by Bob Rehak on May 27, 2025
2828 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Urgent Help Needed: Lake Houston Dredging District Bill Gets One Last Chance
5/26/25 – The Texas Senate Local Government Committee will hear testimony on HB1532, the Lake Houston Dredging District bill, on Monday, May 26, 2025 – Memorial Day beginning at 9 AM.
Most people had given up on the bill and considered it effectively dead for this session. But when I checked this morning, there it was – on the agenda…for the holiday. So please help.
About the Bill
Rep. Charles Cunningham’s HB1532 would create a dredging and maintenance district for Lake Houston within Harris County. It would not have the power to impose taxes. But it could receive initial funding from the state legislature, and then raise additional money by selling the spoils from dredging operations for beneficial uses.
Such uses could include building the Ike Dike, raising homes out of floodplains, improving roads and more.
The Army Corps recommended forming such an entity for ongoing maintenance when it finished its Emergency West Fork Dredging Project after Harvey. It could finally become reality with your help.
How You Can Help
Given the holiday and late notice, it will be difficult for most people to testify in person at tomorrow’s hearing. But there’s another way to help.
Please thank Senator Bettencourt, the chair of the committee, and Senator Creighton, who sponsored a companion bill in the Senate.
Also email members of the committee NOW through their Senate web pages:
Key Points to Make
Subject Line: Please Support HB1532
Message:
Thank you for taking the time! Please forward this post to everyone you know and ask for their help.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/26/2025
2827 Days since Hurricane Harvey