These Dams Needed Replacing 15 Years Ago. Now Texas Will Drain Four Lakes Instead — Causing Other Problems.
of loss of the lakes.
The most extreme estimate puts the property value loss at 50%, which he said sounded reasonable based on previous knowledge of the area, but it would be hard to know for sure until sales occur.
As for environmental impacts, residents say the 100-year-old cypress trees lining the lakes are at risk of dying without being partially submerged in the lake water, and even daily watering might not be enough.
“If someone’s having like kidney problems, you can’t just throw out a kidney transplant without thinking about what’s at issue here,” Coody said.
Lowering the dams will cause the Guadalupe River to return to its normal channel, which is 12 feet below the existing waterline in most places. Some houses are also on stilts for flood avoidance, putting the new water level 20-30 feet below their porches.
Weak dams are a problem across the state — a problem that was brought to the forefront during Hurricane Harvey, when serious weaknesses were discovered in flood control systems in the Houston area.
Researchers say the state and Harris County are making progress on long-overdue repairs two years after the hurricane. The Texas Legislature approved funding to bolster flood infrastructure this spring, and the county is utilizing a $2.5 billion bond passed on the first anniversary of the hurricane to support flood mitigation.
The Addicks and Barker reservoirs are two of the biggest concerns still, said longtime environmental attorney Jim Blackburn, who teaches environmental law at Rice Universityand studied Harris County’s flood infrastructure after Harvey. As the city was drowning in 4 feet of rain, officials worried the reservoir dams might break and wipe away entire neighborhoods.
“We’re going to have to really rethink flooding and flood control almost from top to bottom,” Blackburn said. “If we can keep a lot of those low-lying areas natural, that would be great because those lands can flood without a lot of damage … but, well, that’s kind of contrary to our general philosophy.”
The biggest change the state needs to make is to stop trying to build cities and structures to stay dry all the time, said Bob Gilbert, an engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin who has also studied flood infrastructure. Rain is going to come regardless of what Texas does, and it’s not always going to take a hurricane to cause flooding, as shown with the historic floods in the Rio Grande