Erich Birch LCA Attorney SJRA March 25 Board meeting public comment – AS PRESENTED

Good morning.  My name is Erich Birch, attorney for the Lake Conroe Association.   LCA petitions you to suspend the spring lowering of Lake Conroe under the seasonal lake lowering program and I will explain why this program is illegal and must stop.  LCA has thoroughly researched each of these issues:

1. The lake lowering program is illegal.

• • The City of Houston and SJRA are violating their TCEQ water rights permit, which only allows Lake Conroe water to be used for municipal, agricultural, industrial, and mining purposes.  When SJRA diverts water at the City’s demand, the water passes through Lake Houston and on to the Gulf of Mexico.  It is not needed or used by the City.  In fact, the records show that every time the City demanded water from Lake Conroe, Houston was simultaneously releasing up to 12 times that amount from Lake Houston.  This is a flagrant violation of the permit and state law.
  • The City of Houston has misrepresented – some would say falsified – its Annual Water Use reports to TCEQ, claiming that Lake Conroe water was actually used for municipal purposes.  Wasting water is a separate violation of state law and the permit, which both prohibit waste.  
  • LCA has provided this information to SJRA.  Although SJRA maintains that it must release Lake Conroe water when requested by the City under the lake lowering program, SJRA is now aware there is no permitted, beneficial use for the water and it is effectively aiding and abetting this illegal and wasteful action.
    

2. The program does not prevent flooding.

• • It is an abuse of this water reservoir and flood control structure.  During Hurricane Harvey, the highest rainfall event ever in the area, Lake Conroe continually discharged only 70 percent or less of the water coming into the lake.  This is the designed flood control function of the lake. 
  • The only two engineering studies of the lake lowering program concluded it has little, if any, flood control benefit.  And the Freese & Nichols study for SJRA showed the lake lowering program can actually increase downstream flooding.
  • There has never, ever been a flood event associated with Lake Conroe during the springtime.  The spring lowering is simply a waste of water.

3. The state is facing a drought.

• • The Texas Water Development Board currently identifies Montgomery County as being “Abnormally Dry” and “Moderate Drought.”  These conditions are expected to worsen.
  • Springtime rains are critical to filling water reservoirs for water availability during drought conditions.
  • Since the start of the lake lowering program 37 billion gallons of water have been wasted.  Now, with drought conditions staring us in the face, on April 1 the City and SJRA plan to waste a minimum of another 7 billion gallons, which is enough water to supply over 200,000 households for a year.

4. In summary:

• • SJRA’s stated mission is “to develop, conserve, and protect the water resources of the San Jacinto River basin.”
  • LCA has historically worked hand-in-hand with SJRA in protecting Lake Conroe.  LCA urges SJRA to follow its state mandate and ethical duty to protect the Lake Conroe water reservoir.  We ask you to suspend the spring 2021 lake lowering.  Houston is shooting itself in the foot wasting its own water and we’re asking you to stop cooperating.
  • In the weeks since the recent freeze in Texas, we have watched the legislature hearings grilling public officials, trying to determine how this great State of ours could get into a position of having no electricity and no water in a crisis weather condition.  Well, here we are, watching the early stages of a drought crisis, and LCA is on the side of doing everything possible to prevent it.

5. LCA cannot be more earnest or serious about this issue.  It wishes to avoid legal action, and again urges SJRA to follow its ethical duties to protect the Lake Conroe reservoir, and stop the spring release of water.