More than a decade after one San Jacinto West Fork sand mine stopped mining, the abandoned mine is still:
Inundated by floods
Leaking silty water into the river from multiple locations
Littered with mining debris
Unrestored.
That Was The Good News
Worse, it has little hope of ever being restored. The West Fork has captured one of the mine’s main pits as predicted two years ago. Now, process wastewater leaks from an upstream mine into the abandoned mine, and from there, into the river.
TACA fondly says that mines CAN be repurposed into lakes that make recreational amenities for residential developments. That’s true. If miners cared. If someone was watching. And if we had regulations that forced reclamation.
Last week, I published a story about an abandoned Texas Concrete Plum Grove plant on the East Fork. Today, I focus on a West Fork mine that used to be operated by River Aggregates as the Porter Sand and Gravel Plant. See below.
Landsat image from 10/28/2017. Comparison of this satellite image and the one below, both from Google Earth, shows that the area inside the large red circle was a settling pond in danger of being captured by the river. And it was.See below.Google Earth image from 12/1/2019, thirteen months later. Mine is outlined in red. Circles represent breaches that I will discuss below.New development on right is Northpark Woods.
The mine in question lies between Sorters-McClellan Road and the West Fork, and just north of the Northpark drainage ditch. It sits immediately west of the new Northpark Woods subdivision. The last image in Google Earth that shows active mining was dated 2008.
Current Images Show Lasting Leaks
Looking southeast. Both ends of the main pond (adjacent to the Hallett mine) have sprouted leaks. This is on the northwest side of the mine.Photo taken 4/21/2019.Looking southwest. The Hallett Mine, above the mine in satellite photos above, is almost overflowing in this image taken on 4/21/2019. It sometimes does overflow. See below.Looking northeast. Top circle shows where the Hallett Mine sometimes leaks into the mine in question. Bottom circle shows where the second mine then leaks into the West Fork (in the right foreground).Photo taken 4/21/2019.At the other (southeastern) end of the same pond, river migration cut into the wall that separated the mine from the West Fork. The pond now constantly leaks into the West Fork.Photo taken 4/21/2019.Here’s how it looks from the reverse angle. Looking east toward Northpark Woods development in upper right next to Northpark Drainage Ditch Photo taken 4/21/2019.Compare this with the photo below.
River Migration Led to Transformation
On September 14, 2017, I photographed the same mine from the same angle. Here’s how it looked then. Note that a narrow strip of land only a few feet wide separated the mine from the river at that time.
As the images above show, sometime between 10/28/2017 and 12/1/2019, the West Fork migrated into the mine’s settling pond. The breach then allowed the mine’s wastewater and wastewater from surrounding ponds to drain into the West Fork.
In 2018, on the first anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, I discussed the mine above in a post about river migration. The post said, “At the current rate, without human intervention, river migration should capture the mine … in about three years.” It took less than that.
The abandoned mine will not be much of an amenity for buyers in Northpark Woods. The forests and wetlands that once made this area such an ecologically rich place to explore are gone forever. So are the deer and the fish.
But downstream residents have it worse. They receive all the sediment flowing out of such mines and clogging the river. They must spend hundreds of millions of dollars to restore conveyance of the river so their homes and businesses don’t flood.
There are two lessons to take away from this and other abandoned mines. We need legislation that mandates:
Greater setbacks from rivers for mines. Get them out of the meander belt.
Posting of performance bonds the guarantee reclamation before miners start mining.
Miners can and do sometimes simply ignore the promises they made to restore the land before they got their permit to start mining. When they do, they leave us with a barren moonscape. Littered with craters. And a lasting legacy of loss.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/11/2020
986 Days after Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200421-RJR_1003.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2020-05-11 09:16:482020-05-11 18:37:49Abandoned Sand Mines Leave Lasting Legacy of Loss in Southeast Texas
Aerial photos taken on April 21, 2020 show that Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) finished its Rogers Gully project in the Walden area of Lake Houston south of FM1960. However, a significant mouth bar remains in the portion of the ditch owned by the City of Houston.
Looking west from shoreline of Lake Houston. Harris County Flood Control excavated accumulated sediment earlier this year in the visible portions of Rogers Gully.Looking east from same position, shows work still remains in the City-owned portion of Rogers Gully.
Project Did Not Extend to Lake Houston
The channel repair project extended from Trophy Place to approximately 1,400 feet downstream. Matt Zeve, Deputy Executive Director of HCFCD, said “We had worked this location a year ago, and the sediment accumulated in this spot again very quickly, so we had to come back.”
However, he added, “We won’t be getting the mouth bar.” The mouth bar is yet another one of the jurisdictional issues that plague homeowners around Lake Houston. The map below shows the HCFCD right-of-way in yellow. City of Houston (COH) is the red (actually COH owns all of the lake area even though it doesn’t show up on the map).
HCFCD excavated the yellow portion of Rogers Gully.
Zeve also said, “The mouth bar will have to be handled by another dredging contract that will come after the COH executes the $30 million program.” The $30 million program refers to the Huberty Amendment to SB500 passed during the last legislature.
The April photo of the mouth bar above was taken after a large rain when the lake level was up slightly. When the level is down, here is what the problem looks like.
The Rogers Gully mouth bar still appears to have the potential to back water up and contribute to neighborhood flooding.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/10/2020
985 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 234 after Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200421-RJR_1184.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2020-05-10 14:27:342020-05-10 14:29:32HCFCD Finishes Clean-Out of Its Portion of Rogers Gully; But Mouth Bar Remains
Bright blue/green pond in foreground is part of Triple PG’s wastewater pit.
Likely Cause is Chloride Buildup
What is it then? “When you wash sand and gravel,” he said, “you often get very blue water. Most times it is high in chlorides. The chlorides discourage bacterial growth, or for that matter any life. The water is just too salty.”
Sand going to a big “washing machine.” The wastewater is then channeled to……a pond where silt settles out of the chloride-laden wastewater.Over time, the chloride concentration builds up and causes water to change color.
“Once a mine’s ponds get super saturated, they are no use to miners. That’s because they can’t wash the sand and gravel clean any more and they have to get rid of the water.”
Water-quality expert
“If it’s not chloride free,” he continued, “they can’t sell the sand because the chlorides will attack steel, such as rebar and girders, used to reinforce concrete. They also have to wash the sand used for pipeline bedding. If it’s not chloride free, the chlorides will attack the steel in the pipe over time.”
A construction manager for a major Houston refinery confirmed that chloride pitting and chloride cracking are indeed major concerns for pipelines. Not even stainless steels are immune.
Another part of the main wastewater pond at Triple PG mine
Saltwater Once Covered Entire Area
Where did the chlorides come from? The water-quality expert said, “This was a marine environment at one time, covered by saltwater. Over time, evaporation concentrated the chlorides and they were trapped by a confining layer…probably clay. Now that they are mining and washing material, the chlorides are the only thing left,” he continued.
“We used to see mines create dikes that were designed to fail in the event of a flood or heavy rain. If the chloride concentration got too high before a rain event, they would simply pump the salty water over the dike at night. Then they would replace it with fresh water and start the washing process over again. Dilution is the solution to pollution.”
Rapidly Changing Color Could Reveal Unauthorized Discharge
“If you continue to monitor this mine and the color disappears overnight, it’s a problem,” said the water-quality expert. That’s what I used to see often. The pond would become saturated and no longer usable. Then they would flush it out and it was usable again.”
The Triple PG mine currently operates under a temporary injunction and heightened scrutiny.
A Travis County judge set the trial date for June 22, 2020.
Flimsy Fixes to Other Dikes Remain
While the mine waits for trial, it has sealed those two breaches. But other prior breaches sport flimsy fixes that could wash out in the next large rain and discharge this water into the surrounding creeks. The mine has also been photographed pumping wastewater onto neighboring properties.
On 12/3/2019, I photographed the mine discharging waste water from what is now the blue pond onto neighboring properties.Site of repeated breach into Caney Creek from Triple PG mine (background), photographed on March 3, 2020.Site of another repeated breach into Caney Creek (left)from Triple PG mine, also photographed on March 3, 2020.
Potential Trouble Regardless of Cause of Color Change
Whether the color is due to high chloride content or cyanobacteria, it still poses a threat to drinking water. Chlorides would still need to be filtered out of drinking water pulled from Lake Houston. Cyanobacteria are worse. They often create toxins.
A World Health Organization (WHO) book called “Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water: A guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management” claims WHO has found no documented cases of human deaths due to cyanotoxins. However, there have found many documented cases of animal poisonings. The most likely result of human exposure: dermatitis, “swimmer’s itch,” and severe oral and gastrointestinal inflammation. They also say cyanotoxins promote tumors in mice.
The Triple PG mine underscores the danger of allowing sand mines to operate in floodways and flush their wastewater downstream into the drinking water of 2 million people.
I will continue to monitor the color of the water to see if it changes rapidly.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/9/2020
984 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 233 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Abandoned Sand Mines Leave Lasting Legacy of Loss in Southeast Texas
More than a decade after one San Jacinto West Fork sand mine stopped mining, the abandoned mine is still:
That Was The Good News
Worse, it has little hope of ever being restored. The West Fork has captured one of the mine’s main pits as predicted two years ago. Now, process wastewater leaks from an upstream mine into the abandoned mine, and from there, into the river.
TACA fondly says that mines CAN be repurposed into lakes that make recreational amenities for residential developments. That’s true. If miners cared. If someone was watching. And if we had regulations that forced reclamation.
Last week, I published a story about an abandoned Texas Concrete Plum Grove plant on the East Fork. Today, I focus on a West Fork mine that used to be operated by River Aggregates as the Porter Sand and Gravel Plant. See below.
The mine in question lies between Sorters-McClellan Road and the West Fork, and just north of the Northpark drainage ditch. It sits immediately west of the new Northpark Woods subdivision. The last image in Google Earth that shows active mining was dated 2008.
Current Images Show Lasting Leaks
River Migration Led to Transformation
In 2018, on the first anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, I discussed the mine above in a post about river migration. The post said, “At the current rate, without human intervention, river migration should capture the mine … in about three years.” It took less than that.
The owner of this land, Hannover Estates, sold the part on higher ground to a Colorado developer that is now building Northpark Woods.
Abandoned Mine Creates Lasting Legacy of Loss
The abandoned mine will not be much of an amenity for buyers in Northpark Woods. The forests and wetlands that once made this area such an ecologically rich place to explore are gone forever. So are the deer and the fish.
But downstream residents have it worse. They receive all the sediment flowing out of such mines and clogging the river. They must spend hundreds of millions of dollars to restore conveyance of the river so their homes and businesses don’t flood.
As a final insult, Montgomery County collects only about $12.50 per acre per year in tax on this barren 173-acre plot of land.
Lessons from Loss
There are two lessons to take away from this and other abandoned mines. We need legislation that mandates:
Miners can and do sometimes simply ignore the promises they made to restore the land before they got their permit to start mining. When they do, they leave us with a barren moonscape. Littered with craters. And a lasting legacy of loss.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/11/2020
986 Days after Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
HCFCD Finishes Clean-Out of Its Portion of Rogers Gully; But Mouth Bar Remains
Aerial photos taken on April 21, 2020 show that Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) finished its Rogers Gully project in the Walden area of Lake Houston south of FM1960. However, a significant mouth bar remains in the portion of the ditch owned by the City of Houston.
Project Did Not Extend to Lake Houston
The channel repair project extended from Trophy Place to approximately 1,400 feet downstream. Matt Zeve, Deputy Executive Director of HCFCD, said “We had worked this location a year ago, and the sediment accumulated in this spot again very quickly, so we had to come back.”
However, he added, “We won’t be getting the mouth bar.” The mouth bar is yet another one of the jurisdictional issues that plague homeowners around Lake Houston. The map below shows the HCFCD right-of-way in yellow. City of Houston (COH) is the red (actually COH owns all of the lake area even though it doesn’t show up on the map).
Zeve also said, “The mouth bar will have to be handled by another dredging contract that will come after the COH executes the $30 million program.” The $30 million program refers to the Huberty Amendment to SB500 passed during the last legislature.
The April photo of the mouth bar above was taken after a large rain when the lake level was up slightly. When the level is down, here is what the problem looks like.
The Rogers Gully mouth bar still appears to have the potential to back water up and contribute to neighborhood flooding.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/10/2020
985 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 234 after Imelda
Triple PG Sand Mine Turns Blue-Green
Aerial photos of the Triple PG sand mine in Porter taken on April 21, 2020, showed several of the ponds turning a bright blue/green (cyan).
Expert Believes Color Not Due to Cyanobacteria
A retired water-quality expert, who used to work for the City of Houston and who wishes to remain anonymous, reviewed the photos. He felt cyanobacteria, similar to the type reported in February on the West Fork San Jacinto, did NOT create the color . “You don’t see the subtle layering common with cyanobacteria,” he said.
Likely Cause is Chloride Buildup
What is it then? “When you wash sand and gravel,” he said, “you often get very blue water. Most times it is high in chlorides. The chlorides discourage bacterial growth, or for that matter any life. The water is just too salty.”
“If it’s not chloride free,” he continued, “they can’t sell the sand because the chlorides will attack steel, such as rebar and girders, used to reinforce concrete. They also have to wash the sand used for pipeline bedding. If it’s not chloride free, the chlorides will attack the steel in the pipe over time.”
A construction manager for a major Houston refinery confirmed that chloride pitting and chloride cracking are indeed major concerns for pipelines. Not even stainless steels are immune.
Saltwater Once Covered Entire Area
Where did the chlorides come from? The water-quality expert said, “This was a marine environment at one time, covered by saltwater. Over time, evaporation concentrated the chlorides and they were trapped by a confining layer…probably clay. Now that they are mining and washing material, the chlorides are the only thing left,” he continued.
“We used to see mines create dikes that were designed to fail in the event of a flood or heavy rain. If the chloride concentration got too high before a rain event, they would simply pump the salty water over the dike at night. Then they would replace it with fresh water and start the washing process over again. Dilution is the solution to pollution.”
Rapidly Changing Color Could Reveal Unauthorized Discharge
“If you continue to monitor this mine and the color disappears overnight, it’s a problem,” said the water-quality expert. That’s what I used to see often. The pond would become saturated and no longer usable. Then they would flush it out and it was usable again.”
Triple PG Plagued by Legal Troubles
The State Attorney General is suing the Triple PG mine for unauthorized discharges of process water and dikes that remained open for months.
The mine sits near the confluence of White Oak and Caney Creeks. A TCEQ investigation found that two breaches in the mine’s dikes – one facing each creek – allowed the water from one creek to wash through the pit and into the other creek.
A Travis County judge set the trial date for June 22, 2020.
Flimsy Fixes to Other Dikes Remain
While the mine waits for trial, it has sealed those two breaches. But other prior breaches sport flimsy fixes that could wash out in the next large rain and discharge this water into the surrounding creeks. The mine has also been photographed pumping wastewater onto neighboring properties.
Potential Trouble Regardless of Cause of Color Change
Whether the color is due to high chloride content or cyanobacteria, it still poses a threat to drinking water. Chlorides would still need to be filtered out of drinking water pulled from Lake Houston. Cyanobacteria are worse. They often create toxins.
A World Health Organization (WHO) book called “Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water: A guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management” claims WHO has found no documented cases of human deaths due to cyanotoxins. However, there have found many documented cases of animal poisonings. The most likely result of human exposure: dermatitis, “swimmer’s itch,” and severe oral and gastrointestinal inflammation. They also say cyanotoxins promote tumors in mice.
The Triple PG mine underscores the danger of allowing sand mines to operate in floodways and flush their wastewater downstream into the drinking water of 2 million people.
I will continue to monitor the color of the water to see if it changes rapidly.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/9/2020
984 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 233 since Imelda
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.