News - Reduce Flooding

Fox 26 Finds San Jacinto West Fork Still Flowing White; Source of Pollution Still Not Identified

Last Monday I photographed white water in the West Fork. Alarmed by what I saw, I sent photos to the TCEQ and SJRA. Then I posted about it last night. Fox 26 saw the post and decided to do some of its own investigating.

*San Jacinto River running white has the Hallett sand mine on the West Fork. Photo taken on 11/4/2019.*

Fox News Investigates Further

Today, Fox called for an interview. The reporter, Ivory Hecker, also called the TCEQ, the San Jacinto River Authority and Houston Public Works Department. Everybody, it seems is now investigating. Chuck Gilman of the SJRA says he has never seen anything like it.

Meanwhile, the river is still running white. Not AS white, but nothing like its normal color. Fox sent its own helicopter up today and documented a definite discoloration.

Here’s a link to Ms. Hecker’s segment on Fox. I include it here not because it contains an interview with me, but because it contains the results of her own investigation and interviews with others. It also has helicopter footage taken this afternoon showing that the river is still running white, albeit a dirtier white.

So far this week, the TCEQ, SJRA, and City of Houston have all launched investigations. None has reported results yet.

What Causes Color in Water

China has a Yellow River. Wyoming and Utah have a Green River. Colorado has a Blue River. And of course, Texas and Oklahoma share a Red River. Here’s an article about what makes water different colors. They include runoff, chemical spills, reflected light, color temperature, suspended particles, dissolved minerals, you name it. But the article never once mentions WHITE.

In happier times – Pre-Harvey – I drove to the Arctic Circle and photographed spectacular scenery along the way. In Alberta, Canada, I photographed some of the most intensely blue water I have ever seen anywhere. Given the pristine alpine location, you might think the lake in the photo below was naturally blue.

It’s not. Water is a clear colorless liquid. Things IN it give it color. The intense blue in the water below comes from the way suspended “rock flour” from the glaciers refracts light. Still, I’ll take it over San Jacinto white water any day.

*In the mountains above Canmore, Alberta.*

Best Theory so Far

According to Fox, Houston Public Works suspects the color is caused by suspended sediment from a sand mine. Although both of the mines I flew by on Monday were discharging water from their pits directly into the river, we just need to wait and see what water tests show and whether the discharges I witnessed had been permitted by the TCEQ.

The water was also white upstream from the two mines I photographed – just not as white. So it’s possible those two mines were not even involved. We should not jump to conclusions.

Better Ways to Monitor

Several things are certain at this point, however. Flyovers once every two years by the TCEQ are insufficient to catch issues like this. LandSat flies over Houston 18 times a day. It’s hard for taxpayers to understand why the TCEQ doesn’t use the satellite imagery that the federal government is already collecting anyway. It could provide a higher level of protection at a lower cost. I posed the same question last November to the TCEQ and never received a satisfactory answer.

Second, I have been told that there are ways to monitor the Total Suspended Solid (TSS) concentration in water above and below sand mines. Such gages would make a great way to narrow down the source of pollution and stop it quickly. The SJRA could and should demand such monitoring as part of the price of mining sand near its river banks.

Parting Thought

It’s also hard for people who pay sky-high, City-of-Houston water bills to understand why we allow people to dump things in the drinking water of two million people that raise our treatment costs. It just doesn’t seem right regardless of your politics.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 11.8.19

801 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post are my 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.

The Day That the San Jacinto West Fork Turned White

On Monday, November 4, I flew up the San Jacinto West Fork in a helicopter and was shocked by what I saw. The West Fork had turned milky white. Here are a series of shots starting at the confluence of the West Fork and Spring Creek and heading upstream. Spring Creek angles off to the top of the frame; the West Fork goes right.

Starting at the 59 Bridge…

Note the difference in color between Spring Creek and the West Fork, angling off the right side of the frame. Also note for contrast the normal looking browning water going into the West Fork from the woods at the bottom.

*As we turned up the West Fork, I took this shot. Note the color of the pond at the top of the frame for comparison.*

*This is the first sand mine going upstream. Note the difference in the water heights between the pit (top) and the river bottom. Also note the pipe sending mine wastewater into the West Fork.*

Moving North Past the First Mine

*A little farther upstream, though, the water was still white.*

*I debated on adjectives: chalky or milky?*

At the Hallett Mine North of Northpark Drive

*The Hallett pond on the west side of the river was emptying into the West Fork.* *Hallett is north of Northpark Road off Sorters.*

*On the northern side of the Hallett Mine, we spotted this giant breach that had also been open in October.* *Notice the eroded shoreline opposite the breach. Water must have shot out of that pit with some force.*

This was as far north as we went: the northernmost part of the Hallett Mine. Note the color of the pond on the right for contrast. The water looked less white than farther downstream, but still far from its normal brownish color that you see in the pond.

TCEQ Investigating White West Fork

I don’t think we ever found the source of the whitish discoloration although we found several mines contributing to it. When we got to the northern part of the Hallett Mine, time, fuel and air traffic restrictions dictated that we break off the exploration. So…

These photos were sent to the TCEQ and SJRA for investigation. This is the major source of Houston’s drinking water, folks!

Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/7/2019

800 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

New Union Pacific Railroad Bridge over San Jacinto Will Have Wider Spans

Many readers have asked what the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is doing to its bridge over the San Jacinto near US59. According to the Houston Chronicle, UP is widening the spans to reduce the potential for catastrophic damage in the event of another storm like Harvey.

If you have children or grandchildren that love trains, cranes and building things, you’ll want to share this post with them. It’s a real life example of a massive (re)construction project in the middle of difficult circumstances and a testament to the kind of brainpower and brawn that built this country.

A New Bridge Rises from the Old

These photos taken on Monday of this week (11.4.2019) illustrate how a new Union Pacific bridge is rising in the same place as the old one. With wider spans, the bridge will now also require different construction.

*Wider concrete supports and a steel bed will replace the old tubular supports. UP constructed a temporary bridge next to the new bridge to hold the construction cranes.*

*This wide shot taken on 11/4/2019 shows how much wider the new spans are compared to the old.*

Problems with Old Union Pacific Bridge

Back in 2017, the supports of the old bridge caught many trees swept downstream by Harvey. As you can see in these photos, the old bridge had two or three times the number of supports. David Seitzinger, a Kingwood resident, identified the supports and the trees they caught as a contributor to flooding in this analysis of water levels, flows and timing during Hurricane Harvey.