 From: Kevin Lacy – Lake Conroe Association President January 2, 2026 Thank you to those who responded to my most recent letter with donations and questions. Apologies that our website went down Tuesday, but it was quickly restarted. With my last letter, you will find two letters from State Representative Will Metcalf now on our website. In this letter I want to address our concerns about the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) lack of transparency on recent actions and who we have asked to intervene. But first I want to comment on the unusually low lake levels we are experiencing this time of year and the reasons. It is not due to flood mitigation lowering as thankfully there has been none in 2025 – we are in moderate drought. Today at 199.9 feet msl the lake is only 2.4 inches higher than our lowest level in 2025. We typically recover from low summer levels with November and December rain but not this year. The 2.4-inch level increase compares to 9 inches of level recovery / increase by year end in 2024. The SJRA withdrawal rate for local water supplies on January 1 was over 16 million gallons a day. This significant volume negatively impacts levels when we have lower than average rainfall. At thisdaily required water supply volume, which will grow, any future unnecessary waste of Lake Conroe water must be eliminated. By Jan 5, on our website https://lcatx.org/ will be a summary of the SJRA / City of Houston (CoH) request and related documents to triple the authorized release rate. This increase will not be used for local water needs. It is also not needed for daily CoH water supplies or for any CoH back-up water supplies. All water would be fully wasted once diverted from LC. Please read the summary and if possible also review the fourteen most important pages we highlighted from the seventy-three-page filing. It is easy to see that: The filing had material omissions and no details about the need for a higher diversion rate, The SJRA stated the increased rate “has no impact” and no need for public review, The SJRA stated the increased rate will only be used for permitted beneficial use and not for flood mitigation lowering. Without providing disclosures about lack of need, impacts, public concerns, and potential use for lowering then of course TCEQ approved the request as submitted. We are making this effort to provide summaries and documents so that everyone can benefit from our significant work and verify our statements. We hope to gain full trust in our facts and concerns. It is exceedingly difficult now that the SJRA has taken a nonpublic approach with their plans. The average person hears or reads little compared to 2019/20. The LCA has been patient and professional, but it has not worked. The problems of the 2024 ASM and the clear shift by the SJRA Management to not put any plans in writing for future lowering programs has fully undermined our confidence and trust in SJRA Management. As discussions with SJRA Management have been nonproductive the LCA has asked the SJRA Board to intervene. Attached is a letter that was sent December 11th to the SJRA Board asking them for their attention to our concerns with SJRA Management and recent developments. We anticipate our concerns to be discussed in a nonpublic Board Executive Session in the January 22nd SJRA Board meeting. After the January meeting we will communicate to you about the outcomes and the need for any specific further support. We will be adding additional documents with summaries to our website covering the LCA formal complaint to the TCEQ regarding the 2024 Active Storm Management (ASM) program, two detailed weather studies regarding the 2024 ASM failures, and most importantly pictorial water use graphics that show how none of the lowering program water diverted from Lake Conroe to Lake Houston during 2018-2024 could have been used for water supplies as has been reported by the CoH. We are asking that our members and area residents take the time to read these latest summaries about the SJRA actions and LCA conclusions. You will find the above-mentioned documents at https://lcatx.org/ by the morning of January 7th. As a 501c.3 nonprofit charity we need annual donations to continue our efforts. We have spent half of our reserve fund in 2025 for legal, technical, and meteorological studies. Please become a voting member by donating $100 or contribute any other amount, higher or lower, via our website. Please note you can also donate at https://lcatx.org/. We need your full support to help us meet our mission, to protect and conserve water resources for future Montgomery County growth and needs. Kevin Lacy President of the Lake Conroe Association – k.lacy@lcatx.org December 11, 2025 Letter From: Lake Conroe Association (LCA) December 11, 2025 LCA President Kevin Lacy To: San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) Attention: SJRA General Manager – Aubrey Spear Topic: Summary of recent developments regarding the TCEQ and respectful request for SJRA Board consideration and action to conserve water supplies. This document is prepared for use by the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) Directors. The LCA intent is to address two recent TCEQ decisions and why these decisions are flawed. If these decisions are not altered or overturned, they will result in allowing permanent year-round rain event-based pre-release lowering of Lake Conroe. Multiple years of “temporary” lowering Lake Conroe for rain event flood mitigation has wasted 50 billion gallons – a claim that is well documented and undisputed due to the physical limitations at Lake Houston to divert or sequester those volumes for use. On November 12 the LCA filed a motion to overturn (MTO) with the TCEQ regarding their approval of an increased diversion rate from 700cfs to 2000 cfs on the basis it is not needed for water supplies and the original application had material omissions about increased diversions for flood mitigation. The SJRA GM in October clearly stated in public that the increased rate would be used for accelerated pre rain event lowering. The LCA July 2025 complaint to the TCEQ regarding the June 2024 Lake Conroe lowering of 5.5 inches (2.2 billion gallons diverted to Lake Houston) in violation of the existing water permit and state water law was declined by the TCEQ in early November. Their basis for declining the complaint conflicts with common water law, ignores the physical evidence that lowering diversions are fully wasted, and due to the obvious flaws the SJRA should not rely on this decision as definitive. The TCEQ referenced the City of Houston (CoH) 2024 Water Use Report (WUR) that classified the diversion as “municipal use” as a basis for declining the LCA complaint. The TCEQ fully relied on the WUR report as “evidence” without any investigation of the LCA’s own evidence that it is physically impossible to use the water diverted. If it cannot be proven the volumes were used the CoHWAR is a false filing and therefore cannot not be used as a basis for confirming municipal use. Common water law confirms that if a municipal entity reports a water volume as beneficially used but the physical use outcome is different it is a clear violation of state law. The TCEQ used a concept unheard of in water law or water use filings in that once the July 2024 diversion from Lake Conroe arrived at Lake Houston that lake is referred to as a Municipal use reservoir. This designation somehow bestows upon the Lake Conroe diversion volume of 2.2 billion gallons a designation of “municipal use”. It fully ignores the fact that Lake Houston also serves as a flood mitigation reservoir and significantly larger volumes were being discharged as the Lake Conroe volume arrived. So how can that designation be applied arbitrarily as municipal use to the Lake Conroe diversion if it could not be sequestered and used differently than the other water volumes passing through the Lake Houston dam / spillway simultaneously? Lastly TCEQ referenced the existing SJRA and CoH Water Conservation plans as a basis for denying any claims of waste by LCA. These plans do not address any intentional lowering for unproven and currently unauthorized flood mitigation so are not applicable to the LCA complaint of waste. Several facts worth noting as the LCA files its response to the TCEQ ruling and awaits the TCEQ decision on the Motion to Overturn the increased diversion rate of 2000 cfs. Both TCEQ and the SJRA are on the record opposing pre-release as an effective water conserving method for flood mitigation at Lake Conroe. All existing technical studies do not support lowering at Lake Conroe as having a materially effective flood mitigation impact in the Lake Houston area. The 2021 Regional Watershed study assessed multiple potential projects for flood mitigation – it did not mention or support Lake Conroe lowering Not one of the Lake Conroe lowering diversions can be proven as having a material impact on mitigating downstream flooding compared to the normal operation of Lake Conroe levels for approximately 45 years. As a result of the lack of responsible action by TCEQ and to insulate the SJRA from future liabilities or lawsuits from wasting water the LCA has two requests. We are asking the SJRA Directors to request the SJRA GM and staff to address in writing two key questions by the February SJRA Board meeting. 1. Provide proof of lowering effectiveness of pre-release for downstream flood mitigation via an existing technical study. If one does not exist then no lowering should be allowed until a supporting study exists and specific authorization from the TCEQ is in place. 2. If the SJRA Board is advised CoH has the right to call for water for flood mitigation prior to a rain event then please establish requirements that the CoH would have to document the lowering request as to purpose, that the volumes will be physically used, or there exists a TCEQ authorization absolving the SJRA from any waste liabilities. Kevin Lacy LCA President Copyright © 2026 Lake Conroe Association, All rights reserved. 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