It's time to start a little discussion about this matter. I don't know about you, but I have land on the lake and an interest in normal lake levels. They are getting ready to suck our Lake Conroe as dry as they need to, "to provide adequate water to maintain landscapes for The Woodlands residents in time of drought". You should see the 5' diameter "transmission lines".

There has been effort to put a stop to further lake lowering. The answer? "The city of Houston owns 2/3 the water rights in Lake Conroe. It was built as a water supply lake, not for recreation."

http://www.sanjacintoriverauthority....nes/index.html

I'm not really clear on exactly what changed but my understanding is that the JPA of The Woodlands threatened or filed suit against the City of Houston for the inability of utilizing Lake Conroes' water priviliges to service the many MUD districts because of the inability of being able to dig deep high volume wells into the aquifer due to semi-recent TNRCC legislation. This and a cash buyout over a payment period allowed The Woodlands to be released from the ?ETJ or EJT? of Houston preventing annexation and allowing The Woodlands to incorporate.
I'd feel rather certain that it's not just for times of drought only, but rather to supply demand needs for all of south Montgomery County and the City of Conroe.
I wonder why they don't pump water from Sam Rayburn (current supplier of pipelined water for The Woodlands) into Lake Conroe to maintain the lakes' level as it has a larger watershed than Lake Conroe. This will allow a much easier abilty to keep the ideal lake level for all the local residents and those Houstonians' who also come to enjoy the lake.
I'm kind of in the same boat as you with property ownership, Although mine isn't on the lake but close to it on 1097. I was going to build a new shop for the biz and a home behind it until the City of Willis annexed it and zoned it commercial-industrial. There's no way I'm going to put 2 improvements on it and subject myself to the additional taxes of being within an incorporated city.

If anybody knows the truth or where to access records of what I've heard I'd love to know the truth.
As it stands now I'd feel that once they tap into the lake it'll never come back up to the ideal level unless we took rain like we did during the storms of Oct 1994, Jun 2001, & Sept 2008.

Thanks for your thread, I look forward to hearing frome someone who knows more than the heresay I've heard.

See ya,
Kelly

In the meanwhile, If anybody is looking for some land near the lake I have 15 acres for sale

Here's a good read on what's happening and it shows the possible impact as they start pulling water from our lake starting in 2015 at 1 inch per month thru 2025, 2 inches per month in 2025-2035, 3 inches per month 2035-2045, and 4 inches per month 2045-2055. The graphs of historical levels only take into account from 1974 thru 2008 levels and doesn't take into account the drought of the last 3-4 years.

http://www.sanjacintoriverauthority....age-7-2013.pdf

It will be interesting, they are putting up big pipes for little pulls? Also Exxon will be increasing the demand as well starting next year. I have also lived on the lake long enough to see it go feet over the level in one weekend....

Keith the only problem with that source is its like asking Obama to tell us about what's wrong with Obamacare. No where near the size of pipes would be needed if all they wanted was an inch or so a month! One normal size fire hose would probably do it.

Oh I do agree Andy!! Its all BS and just what they want you to hear and believe as them saying they haven't let any water thru the dam since December of 2011. I think the levels it shows from 2045-55 are real time levels coming in 2015-16 and I guess we all don't have a "leg to stand on" as "Lake Conroe is not a recreational lake", so screw us!!

I'd have to call Hogwash on them saying they released water in Dec 2011.
That was when Tom rented the cofferdam and I took him a couple of skidsteers and a trackhoe while business was slow and we extended and deepened his boatramp.
At that time the lake had to be a solid 6', maybe more, lower than normal.
I'm curious, do any of y'all know exactly how low the lake got then before it started coming back up?

See ya,
Kelly

I believe it was 8ft low. I remember we paid a crane to lift out our mainship because it was the last opportunity to get it out. Shortly after the lake came up. 3k well spent

I think firehill19 is correct on them releasing water in 2011 to repair the bottom of the dam.

Joe's right, the lowest it got was 192.8 in December 2011, so just a hair over 8 feet low. It would of been in the 180's if the pipe was completed and water was being shipped to The Woodlands. It wouldn't ever recover from that level.