These dams needed replacing 15 years ago. Now Texas will drain four lakes instead — causing other pr

[corbe]

These dams needed replacing 15 years ago. Now Texas will drain four lakes instead — causing other problems.

Two floodgate failures on 90-year-old Guadalupe River Valley dams — and the plan to lower the remaining four — are highlighting Texas' underfunded, aging flood infrastructure.

by Chase Karacostas Sept. 10, 2019


The dam at Lake McQueeny, near Seguin, is one of four remaining in the Guadalupe River Valley in Central Texas that are at risk of failure.  Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune

SEGUIN — Texas officials will start draining four lakes next week in Guadalupe County in Central Texas without a plan in place for when the lakes, and the 90-year-old dams that support them, will be rebuilt. Area homeowners, who got barely a month's notice, said they felt blindsided by the plan, and they say it will slash their property values, kill their beloved century-old cypress trees and render the lakes — which have hosted water skiing tournaments for decades — unusable.

But Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority officials say they don’t have a choice. The dams, two of which have already had catastrophic failures, are creating a safety hazard that could flood entire neighborhoods if they get any worse, river authority spokeswoman Patty Gonzales said. River authorities were created by the Texas Legislature to manage and conserve water resources around the state.

“We cannot guarantee the safety of the public with these aging spill gates” and have to lower them, Gonzales said. The dams are set to be lowered starting Monday.

This is a familiar story surrounding water infrastructure all across the state. Flooding in South Texas last year and Hurricane Harvey in 2017 exposed gaps across Texas in the state’s flood protection systems, which experts say are often underfunded and allowed to decay for decades past their lifespans.

<..snip..>

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/10/guadalupe-river-valley-dams/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The hell with waterfront property owners and nature buffs.

Those dams protect massive flooding and if they need shoring up, it needs to be done.

People need to realize this is serious stuff.

From just 4 years ago, people died. And those property owners were partially responsible for a 40' wall of water bearing down.
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/05/wimberley-floods-2015-caused-weather-patterns-intensified-development/

[roamer_1]

Aw Man! That poor Camino! What a tragedy! Well, maybe not tragedy... It is the Mote Carlo one... but still.

[Bigun]

Draining those lakes now and replacing the dams later seems the prudent course to me.

[Smokin Joe]

Draining those lakes now and replacing the dams later seems the prudent course to me.

If those dams have been in place for any length of time, there will be an extensive accumulation of silt in the upstream reaches of the lakes. That sediment makes a lousy substrate for anything, and can trap animals like a tar pit.

As for the waterfront owners, the water will be back. Like a road construction project, there is pain before improvement, but the pain is temporary. Start with the worst of the dams, and drain that lake, replace the dam. Without them, there will be no flood control, and that might end up worse for folks downstream.

[Elderberry]

Judge temporarily halts draining of four Guadalupe River lakes

Houston Chronicle by  Josh Baugh Sep. 11, 2019

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local/article/GBRA-lakefront-property-owners-headed-to-court-14430753.php

A state judge on Wednesday put a temporary hold on the draining of four Guadalupe River lakes — scheduled to begin Monday — while the court battle between property owners and the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority continues into next week.

Property owners from the four lakes — McQueeney, Placid, Meadow and Gonzales — have asked Judge Stephen B. Ables to prohibit the GBRA from moving ahead with the plan it announced last month to drain the reservoirs because of public safety concerns.

The plaintiffs, represented separately by San Antonio litigator Ricardo Cedillo and Doug Sutter, a Houston attorney who owns property on McQueeney, questioned nine witnesses Wednesday, including a former GBRA executive, a civil engineer and a real estate appraiser.

They sought to cast the GBRA as an unresponsive, derelict agency that has consistently failed to address maintenance and upkeep on six dams along the Guadalupe River. On two of the dams, a spill gate collapsed suddenly, emptying Lake Wood in March 2016 and Lake Dunlap in May. No one was injured.

More at link.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Judge temporarily halts draining of four Guadalupe River lakes

Houston Chronicle by  Josh Baugh Sep. 11, 2019

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local/article/GBRA-lakefront-property-owners-headed-to-court-14430753.php

If I were Abbott, I would simply ask the GBRA to disregard this injunction in the interest of public safety.

That is the hand he holds and it trumps all others, including a visiting judge.

[berdie]

O.K....I'm somewhat short on time and can't read all the links so this may be answered in one.  Where the heck does one drain a lake to without flooding the surrounding property?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

O.K....I'm somewhat short on time and can't read all the links so this may be answered in one.  Where the heck does one drain a lake to without flooding the surrounding property?

It is actually a dam on a river which is a reservoir, so draining it down the river over time will have the effect of draining the lake.

[Smokin Joe]

O.K....I'm somewhat short on time and can't read all the links so this may be answered in one.  Where the heck does one drain a lake to without flooding the surrounding property?

It can be done by increasing outflow without exceeding down stream high water limitations. Usually when there is less rainfall. It can't be done all at once, obviously, but over a period of time depending on the ability of downstream watercourses to handle the extra runoff from the release.

Lake Sakakawea (ND) was lowered over 20 ft. during the 1980s, to sustain Barge traffic on the Missouri in St Louis. Those who had lakefront and nearby property were not happy, as they were left with a half mile of blowing sand/silt for a front yard instead of water.

[corbe]

   All the lakes mentioned in the article are feed by the Canyon Lake Dam:



   Which also was overtopped in 2002.

In the 2002 flood, the peak flow was about 70,000 cubic feet per second (2,000 m³/s). The amount of water that flowed over the spillway was about 3½ times the amount of water that the reservoir holds. Erosion over the course of three days washed away soil below the spillway to reveal what is now the Canyon Lake Gorge. Water continued to flow over the spillway for six weeks

.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_Lake_(Texas)

[berdie]

@IsailedawayfromFR @Smokin Joe

O.k. thanks.

I just keep remembering a couple of years ago the spillway was opened on a lake close to Dallas when there was a monumental rainy season. It went to the river but flooded down the way.

[Smokin Joe]

@IsailedawayfromFR @Smokin Joe

O.k. thanks.

I just keep remembering a couple of years ago the spillway was opened on a lake close to Dallas when there was a monumental rainy season. It went to the river but flooded down the way.

In wet times, when the creeks/rivers are already full of runoff, it makes more trouble. But in drier times, those lakes can be dropped or even emptied without exceeding the capacity of the streams downriver.

Ideally, the reservoirs serve as a buffer, allowing extra water during high flows to be stored, rather than flooding downstream, and released during lower flow times, maintaining a more constant water level in the rivers. Faulty rainfall estimates (or reservoir management) can cause that capacity to be exceeded, and then the reservoirs have to release water at a higher rate than it might ordinarily be flowing downstream.

In the event of a failure, or threat of one, the releases will likely be even greater yet, to prevent the failure and catastrophic emptying of the reservoir (and possible subsequent failures in the system downstream).

[IsailedawayfromFR]

@IsailedawayfromFR @Smokin Joe

O.k. thanks.

I just keep remembering a couple of years ago the spillway was opened on a lake close to Dallas when there was a monumental rainy season. It went to the river but flooded down the way.

This one happened this year. Perhaps it is the one you are talking about?
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/video-vault/Dam-Spillway-Collapses_Dallas-Fort-Worth-510007452.html

The Oroville dam in California was a much bigger event and the emergency spillway was used and failed. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXfx-yt3m18

[Elderberry]

Property owners, GBRA reach accord to avoid draining Guadalupe River lakes

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local/article/GBRA-homeowners-negotiating-settlement-to-halt-14443171.php

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and lakefront property owners who sued the agency agreed Monday afternoon to a compromise: the four lakes won’t be drained, at least for now, but people and their boats have to stay off the reservoirs.

In addition, an appointed three-member panel of experts will determine the future use of lakes McQueeney, Placid, Meadow and Gonzales.

The accord, formally known as a temporary injunction, was hashed out between attorneys for the GBRA and for two separate sets of lake property owners who sued the agency to prevent the draining of the lakes.

The temporary injunction is set to last for 12 months. Under the settlement, the GBRA and the plaintiffs will each select an expert to help decide whether the lakes are safe for continued use. The two experts will jointly select a third to round out the panel.

That panel will have 30 days to determine which portion of each lake, if any, is safe for continued use, but the experts can request a 30-day extension if necessary.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Property owners, GBRA reach accord to avoid draining Guadalupe River lakes

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local/article/GBRA-homeowners-negotiating-settlement-to-halt-14443171.php

I met a former GBRA employee over the weekend who told me what is driving a lot of this resistance to drainage is the illegal pumping of water by these property owners out of the impoundments.

GBRA wants to drain the lakes to stop the removals of water and is getting pushback.

[Sanguine]

I met a former GBRA employee over the weekend who told me what is driving a lot of this resistance to drainage is the illegal pumping of water by these property owners out of the impoundments.

GBRA wants to drain the lakes to stop the removals of water and is getting pushback.

What determines "illegal pumping"?  Is no pumping allowed?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

What determines "illegal pumping"?  Is no pumping allowed?

No permit to remove the water.

I used to live on Lake Livingston and needed a permit the same way, even to water my yard.

Water is a precious commodity in certain places.

When I lived in Louisiana, it was virtually free.

[Sanguine]

No permit to remove the water.

I used to live on Lake Livingston and needed a permit the same way, even to water my yard.

Water is a precious commodity in certain places.

When I lived in Louisiana, it was virtually free.

Oh, I know about precious water!

So, rather than drain the lakes to catch illegal pumpers, why don't they just go after illegal pumping?  You have to have a pipe in the water in order to pump, right?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Oh, I know about precious water!

So, rather than drain the lakes to catch illegal pumpers, why don't they just go after illegal pumping?  You have to have a pipe in the water in order to pump, right?

Not as easy as it sounds.  How do you find those underground pipes snaked way out into the lake?

And the dams are weak, so there is a double reason to do this.

Reminds me of working in South Texas in the oilfield in the mid 70s.  I visited our Freer office and found it had a gas line from a field 20 miles north that wells produced gas into.  The gas was not sold, but used only for heating the office.  What happened to the rest of the gas put into the line?

Seems over the years dozens of taps were placed into it by homeowners along the way to the office.

The only way we could find the taps was to shut down the line, find another sales point, and run propane for the office heating.

[Sanguine]

Not as easy as it sounds.  How do you find those underground pipes snaked way out into the lake?

And the dams are weak, so there is a double reason to do this.

Reminds me of working in South Texas in the oilfield in the mid 70s.  I visited our Freer office and found it had a gas line from a field 20 miles north that wells produced gas into.  The gas was not sold, but used only for heating the office.  What happened to the rest of the gas put into the line?

Seems over the years dozens of taps were placed into it by homeowners along the way to the office.

The only way we could find the taps was to shut down the line, find another sales point, and run propane for the office heating.

I guess I was thinking of Lake Travis and Buchanan, with the limestone cliffs.  People who pull water out of those have obvious pipes into the water. 

[corbe]

   It saddens me so to float down the Comal/Guadalupe river and see suds of clothes washer affluent pipes from River Front property owners, especially in my town where your waste water charge is directly related to you water intake. 
   Guess it's not as bad as all the people peeing in the river.