That's what a lot of citizens would like to know..Including Council Member Dave Martin. He's pushing for the city to study this situation and see what can be done in and around Lake Houston to remedy it. "Over the past year, the Lake Houston and Kingwood areas have experienced three 100-year flood producing rain events, most recently this past Memorial Day weekend, that have left certain areas devastated and scrambling to rebuild. As a result, many questions have been raised about what is different today than in the past that contributes to the major flood stages we have seen.To explain the impact specifically to the Lake Houston area it is important to understand that there are many tributaries that lead into the lake that cause it to rise. Lake Conroe, which many believe is the only body of water that flows south into the lake, is definitely a contributing source, however, there are other bodies of water to our Northwest that also contribute to rising water levels. Cypress Creek, Lake Creek and Spring Creek, for example, all flow into the West Fork of the San Jacinto River which eventually leads into Lake Houston with its final destination into Galveston Bay.Additionally, it is said to be known that Lake Houston’s capacity is only half of what it was when it was originally built in 1953 due to a buildup of silt on the bottom of the lake. Unless the City of Houston proactively finds a solution to this buildup, residents around the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston will continue to see this pattern of flooding occur during heavy rainstorms like we have seen recently.Combined with our massive growth to our North and Northwest, particularly in Montgomery County, concrete has replaced raw land and this only exacerbates our potential for flooding.As a result, I have encouraged Mayor Sylvester Turner’s new Chief Resiliency Officer and former Houston City Council Member Stephen Costello to study Lake Houston’s Operational Plan, its capacity, the accumulation of silt, as well as the feasibility of dredging the lake. If dredged, the amassing of sediment that has increased since the lake was built could be removed providing more capacity and decreasing the potential for future flooding. I look forward to working with Costello and other key agencies that will need to be involved in the conversations including the city’s Public Works and Engineering Department, the Coastal Water Authority, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and city, state and federal partners.It is imperative that we initiate this study and provide a viable solution that will decrease the impacts we have seen to residential and business properties.To do nothing and expect our area to not flood again is sheer lunacy. Three 100-year floods in 12 months is not a coincidence, it is an event that will continue to happen unless we become proactive with a solution to increase the capacity of Lake Houston, which is the source of drinking water to several cities including Houston.We need to continue to invest in Lake Houston and the surrounding communities and take an aggressive approach rather than a reactive one in a time of need."
~City of Houston Council Member Dave Martin 4951