People need to be on their state legislature representatives and chewing their butts out for not taking action during the sunset hearings. They blew their chance again after the Dunlap dam broke while the legislature was still in session.

I�m on Dunlap All the dams will fail. GBRA has stopped all maintenance due to safety concerns. McQueeny will stay 18� low until the dam fails. Property values are dropping on all lakes and regardless the tax assessor says since values are appraised on Jan1, there is no relief. Want to turn $800k into $400? Buy on a GBRA lake. It�s all good since GBRA owns the water right? No need that in the town hall they stated the did minimal repairs in the 50 years they have sold water and electricity from all the lakes or took fees and dictated to the property owners what and where to build? All good.

Just a thought. Medina is about the same age and has had gate problems for years. Food for thought. It�s also owned by a cooperative. Buyer beware.

Well it�s a buyers market then, right? Isn�t that what investors want. You guys need to quit freaking out, the sun will still rise & set. Gonna take time, but someone with the money will fix it. Might end up being TPWD, the COE or even the county; but someone will.


But yes AG, Medina�s dam is old, real old; but the property owners know that a full lake is a rarity. Many there will sale out when the lake fills and the desperate sale when the lakes in a low drought cycle. Biggest issue with the Medina dam though, if/when it fails, it�s killing people.

TPWD?.....Please, I hope not!
They have enough trouble keeping their parks and management areas open!

In my opinion, Guadalupe Valley Electric Co-Operative would be the perfect mach. All the dams are in their distribution area, and GVEC is well known for quality service to the people of the Guadalupe Valley. And they have the money.

The GBRA is totally responsible for the management of the Guadalupe River! "Period"! They do a very poor job!

Glitter Dome is on this! Compared to LCRA, it is not even close.

A bit off topic I suppose.. But..

The Medina dam was built circa 1911.. Very interesting book written about it called, "Ripples From Medina Lake.." Tons of history.. Lotsa good pics..


During the flood of 2002, there was great concern about the dam being topped, (water got to W/I 15" from the top of the dam..) and the resulting over flow washing out the footing of the dam at the base behind it..

The town of Castroville was under a mandatory evacuation.. And there was a two and a half day party at my house with several of my friends and their families sleeping all over my house as they waited out the evacuation order.. Of course nothing happened to the dam..

But it was a hell of a good time at my house as a lot of BBQ'ing was going on.. And maybe a few beers consumed..

The base of the dam was excavated into the rock when the dam was built.. Several years back, a few million was spent on reinforcing the base of the dam on the backside I understand..

And in the last twenty years the valves at the bottom of the dam were replaced/repaired.. You can probably still see the old giant gate valves laying behind the dam that were replaced.. But I have not looked for them in a while..

And at the time the dam was built, it was the biggest west of the Mississippi.. And they built Boulder dam in the same fashion at the base from what I understand..


For whatever it is worth.. I don't think the Medina dam is going anywhere..

There is a huge difference between Medina and the Guadalupe River dams. The dams on the Guadalupe are not breaking, it is the gates that are on top of the dams breaking. They are made of wood mounted on a swivel arm. It's the swivel arm that is breaking. Steel is just not made to sit in water for 84 years without being maintained. GBRA did not maintain them.

I bet I could make a repair and fill the lake back up for say... Only 1.5 Mil..

And then I'd retire..

Give me a pile of steel and a good welder and I can do it for that 1.5 million.

http://herald-zeitung.com/news/article_fb80f5e8-9d2b-11e9-af31-9b9a74f35b1c.html

Some pretty good reading on GBRA. Also note that it is a little easier to be aggressive when you still have a lake.

I would like to know when the big meeting will happen. I would like to be able to say no one gives flip about their lake except them. I would much rather the money being spent on us non-lake users of the services they provided.

Mcqueeney has a very powerful HOA with lots of MONEY!

As of now, they have no basis for a law suit. They haven't lost anything, and until they do, they are just blowing hot air.