dredging district Archives - Reduce Flooding

1/31/25 – State Representative Charles Cunningham (District 127) has proposed HB 1532 in the 89th Texas Legislature. It would create a Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District.

The bill has the potential to benefit all citizens of Harris County and from my perspective is one of the most important bills introduced in this legislature.

Essentially the Dredging and Maintenance District would be a conservation and reclamation district. Article 16, Section 9 of the Texas Constitution authorizes the creation of such districts.

The District’s main purpose: “restore, maintain, or expand the capacity of the lake and its tributaries to convey storm flows.” But the range of benefits could be much wider.

Keep in mind that the lake provides drinking water for more than 2 million people and sediment constantly shrinks its capacity.

dredging and maintenance district — *The City of Houston is still dredging sand deposited by Hurricane Harvey more than seven years ago.*

Maintenance needs to be constant. Imagine having to wait for an act of Congress to fill up your car with gasoline, then spending another two years applying for a grant and a year bidding the purchase. That’s the situation we have.

Potential Benefits

If approved, the bill has the potential to:

Increase Lake Houston’s capacity, which until now has constantly dwindled due to sediment deposited during periodic floods
Offset sediment swept downstream from upstream sand mines
Maintain the drinking water supply capacity for more than 2 million people
Reduce flooding in the Lake Houston Area by increasing the conveyance of tributaries and eliminating blockages at their mouths that back water up into homes and businesses.
Provide a source of material for beneficial uses such as:
- Making concrete
- Building roads
- Elevating home foundations in new developments
- Supporting public works projects, such as providing material to build the Ike Dike.

Governed by City- and County-Appointed Directors

Seven directors would govern the district. Harris County Commissioners Court and Houston City Council would each appoint three. The County and City would jointly appoint the seventh. They would have staggered 4-year terms.

Powers and Duties of District

“Dredging and maintenance” include the removal of debris that accumulates under and over the water of Lake Houston and its tributaries. That includes floating debris, such as trees that wash into the lake during floods.

The District may form inter-local agreements (ILAs) with other organizations within the boundaries of the District (Harris County).

The District would not have the power of eminent domain.

In performing its duties, the District may not negatively affect the water quality in Lake Houston. That includes the quality of water treated by the City’s Northeast Water Purification Plant.

Before performing any dredging or maintenance, the District must obtain the approval of the City’s Director of Public Works.

Financing

The District would not have to pay a fee to take the material it dredges, but could make money to finance operations by selling that material. It may not impose taxes or charge fees.

But the District could apply for grants from sources such as FEMA, HUD, and the Texas Water Development Board.

The State legislature could also appropriate up to $25 million per year to help jumpstart operations, but not after September 1, 2027.

As one of its first duties, the District would have to develop a plan of financing and make that plan available to the public for comment.

Start Date

If more than two-thirds of each house in the Legislature approve, the bill would take effect immediately. If approved with less than a two-thirds majority, the District would take effect on September 1, 2025.

Commissioners Court and City Council would have to name board members no later than September 1, 2026.

Similar to 2023 Bill

Cunningham proposed a similar bill in the previous legislature that died in committee. Cunningham was a freshman in the legislature back in 2023 and he introduced the bill late in the session. Now he has more friends and seniority which could get him on the committee reviewing the bill.

Also this bill was introduced much earlier, improving the chances it will be heard (It’s #1532 vs. #5341).

Other than changing the dates and numbers, the bills are virtually identical.

Let’s hope Mr. Cunningham has the pull to get on the committee reviewing the bill this year.

At this point, the bill has not been sent to any committee yet. Nor have any other additional sponsors signed on.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/31/25

2712 Days since 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.

In the 2021 Legislation session, State Rep. Dan Huberty introduced HB2525, a bill to create a Dredging and Maintenance District for Lake Houston. Senator Brandon Creighton introduced an identical companion bill in the senate, SB1892. It deserves the support of everyone in the Houston region who depends on the lake for water as well as those whose homes and businesses flooded during Harvey.

Why We Need Perpetual Maintenance Dredging

For those who may not remember, during Harvey enough sand and silt came down the San Jacinto West Fork to block the river by 90% according to the US Army Corps of Engineers.

*South of the Kingwood Country Club’s Island Course, Hurricane Harvey deposited several feet of sand that reduced the carrying capacity of the West Fork by 90%, according to the Army Corps.*

Massive sediment and tree deposits dammed the river at the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge, south of the Kingwood County Club, West Lake Houston Parkway and Kings Point. The blockages contributed to the flooding of 16,000 homes and 3,300 businesses.

*Union Pacific Railroad Bridge over West Fork after Harvey had turned into a “beaver dam” because of deadfall washed downstream and caught in the supports.*

*After Harvey, sand deposits at the West Lake Houston Parkway bridge reached the tree tops.*

*West Fork Mouth Bar immediately after Harvey virtually blocked the river between Kings Point and Atascocita Point (top right).*

Two years later, Tropical Storm Imelda made similar deposits on the East Fork where thousands of additional homes flooded.

Wherever moving bodies of water meet standing bodies, the current decelerates and sediment tends to drop out of suspension. You can see the same phenomenon where smaller streams and channels enter the lake.
Brown & Root Report, 2000

History of Disputes with FEMA, Corps Over Deferred Maintenance

After Harvey, leaders in the Humble/Kingwood Area fought with the Corps to remove the biggest of the blockages – the West Fork Mouth Bar. The Corps fought back.

The Corps and FEMA believed the massive mouth bar had been growing for years and that it resulted from deferred maintenance.

There was some truth to that. That reach of the West Fork had never been dredged at least in the previous 40 years. The ensuing debate lasted more than a year.

That’s why, shortly after the Corps started its Emergency Dredging program in 2018, it emphasized the need for maintenance dredging to a) avoid such disputes and b) keep problems at a subacute level.

Two Years Later, FEMA/Corps Agreed to Partial Mouth Bar Dredging

Then, in 2019, the City of Houston commissioned Tetra Tech to harvest core samples from the bar. The samples showed that most sand and silt was recently deposited. FEMA later relented and agreed to have the Corps dredge 500,000 cubic yards from a six hundred acre area south of the mouth bar. The Corps finished that dredging in late 2019. The City continued the program with mechanical dredges in January of 2020. They’re still at it. And people are still at risk from the next big flood.

Lake Houston Has Lost 22,000 Acre Feet of Capacity

Meanwhile, Lake Houston, which supplies water to millions of people has been steadily losing capacity. In 2018, the Texas Water Development Board found the lake had lost more than 22,000 acre feet of capacity. The problems are most apparent around the edges of the lake and in its upstream reaches. Both natural streams and man-made channels have become silted in. Mouth bars on both the East and West Forks have reduced the depth of the San Jacinto to approximately 3 feet (from 25 to 30 feet), except where it has already been dredged.

*Atascocita resident walking across the river in 2019 without getting his shirt wet.*

This cannot continue indefinitely. Nor can we expect the federal government to pay for deferred maintenance in the future; we have been warned. If we expect help again in the future after disasters, we must be able to show what bottom depths were before the storms. And those kinds of surveys are regular parts of maintenance dredging programs.

Safety and Future at Stake

In the three and a half years since Harvey, according to boaters and residents, we have not yet been able to restore the area between Kings Point and Atascocita Point to its pre-storm depth. We haven’t even removed all of the mouth bar.

*Three mechanical dredges are still trying to reduce the West Fork Mouth bar more than 15 months after they started.* *Photo taken 3/19/21.*

We need to figure how much sediment comes downriver every year and remove at least that much with a maintenance dredging program to:

Stop or reduce the loss of reservoir capacity
Reduce the risk of flooding
Show good faith to FEMA, eliminate contentious arguments with regular river bottom surveys, and demonstrate how much build-up resulted from a particular disaster.

We also need to be able to quickly accelerate the program after major storms such as Harvey and Imelda.

Dredging needs to be a continuous activity because one major flood can deposit more sediment than humans can remove in years.

How You Can Help

I urge you to support HB2525. Write as many local leaders on the City, County and State levels as possible. Pay particular attention to the House Natural Resources Committee where the bill is pending hearings right now. State Senator Brandon Creighton has filed an identical companion bill, SB1892, which has been referred to the Local Government Committee.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/28/2021

1307 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Tag Archive for: dredging district

HB 1532 Would Create Dredging and Maintenance District