Another one bites the dust!

Looks like a gate "malfunctioned" at Lake Gonzales today.

What?!?!?!? Did you just hear about the 2019 failure?

WHAT? Did you not know that was Lake Wood,(aka Hydroelectric #5)? I'm posting that LAKE GONZALES, (aka Hydroelectric #4) dam failed yesterday, August 3, 2021.

Don't be in such a hurry to make yourself look so foolish.

This is what the dam break at Lake Gonzales looked like at the Gonzales Hydroelectric Dam.

Just a matter of time, kind of the domino effect and they can't just look the other way and think the problem will just go away!

GBRA has proven they CAN just look the other way. My opinion is that if they don't fix them, they need to remove the remains before they become a hazard.

Problem is that won't fly, and the proof is after the Dunlap failure they, or someone suggested all the other lakes be lowered, but as you see that didn't go over that well, so that is why the other lakes are again back at square one, and people can only hope their dam isn't the next to fail.
What's the count?...3 down two to go?

GBRA has let it be known that they are not going to repair any of their dams unless the property owners or taxpayers pay for the repairs. GBRA came to Gonzales County and proposed a county wide tax to repair the two dams in the county. That flew like a ton of lead. So, GBRA walked away and that's the end.

Isn't there some form of dam in Sequin by the park? If so is it the same type of structure that could break?

sounds like they are rebuilding the Dunlap Dam. I did not know that.

I think that dam belongs to the City of Seguin. I don't believe it has any movable gates so it should not break. But there are three other dams in the area that could break.

When I looked online yesterday, I didn't see anything about an August 3rd failure. And do you really think I give a rip about your criticism?

GBRA press release for August 3, 2021.

LAKE GONZALES EXPERIENCES SPILLGATE FAILURE
The hydroelectric dam at Lake Gonzales in Gonzales County experienced a spillgate failure during normal operation on August 3, 2021.

During and after rainfall events, spillgates on the dams are lowered to accommodate the passage of flood waters downstream. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority has continued to encounter challenges with unreliable operation of the more than 90-year old spillgates along the Guadalupe Valley Lakes, due to the age of the infrastructure. The failed spillgate at Lake Gonzales was non-responsive to operational efforts and was unable to be brought back to its normal height of 12-feet after passing water flows downstream, despite efforts to restore operation by the GBRA hydroelectric operations and engineering teams. An evaluation is ongoing to determine if any repairs are possible to return the non-responsive gate to operations. GBRA environmental field staff is also on site, working in coordination with Texas Parks & Wildlife to relocate aquatic species back into the river channel.

“We are grateful that the spillgate failure at Lake Gonzales did not result in any injuries,” said GBRA General Manager and CEO Kevin Patteson. “This is a challenging situation for everyone involved. We have worked to keep the more than 90-year old spillgates in operation for as long as we could safely do so, but we cannot prevent them from failing. GBRA remains in support of the Lake Gonzales community as we continue to work with local and state officials in an exhaustive search for potential funding options.”

Lake Gonzales, along with Meadow Lake and Lake Wood, do not have the tax base and development to support the creation of a Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) – which has served as a solution to funding the necessary replacement of the aging infrastructure for three other Guadalupe Valley Lakes. Further, the Guadalupe Valley Lakes do not serve a purpose in flood control, because they have no room for temporary storage of flood waters, so they do not qualify for any existing state or federal flood relief programs.

Built in the 1930’s, the spillgates on the dams that form the Guadalupe Valley Lakes have surpassed their useful life, as evidenced by spillgate failures at Lake Wood in 2016 and Lake Dunlap in 2019. With the hydroelectric dams having operated at an unsustainable deficit for more than a decade, GBRA cannot support the necessary replacement of the spillgates in the absence of state and federal funding assistance and stakeholder partnerships. GBRA has supported efforts made by the lake associations at Lake Dunlap, Lake McQueeney and Lake Placid to create WCIDs to fund the necessary replacement of the spillgates, as well as the annual maintenance and operation.

More information, including the latest updates on the Guadalupe Valley Lakes, is available at GVLakes.com.

https://youtu.be/dUqqMETmqMA

Yes Sir. It's a total shame!

A tree appears to have caused a backup earlier this month that led to one of the spill gates failing and draining Lake Gonzales.

There is no safe way to fix it and no money available to replace all the spill gates at the aging hydro-electric dam, Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, the owner of the dam, said. GBRA operations staff and engineering teams evaluated the gates and came to a conclusion, Executive Manager of Engineering Charlie Hickman said.

“We were really unable to identify any repair mechanisms that could be accomplished in a safe manner that we felt were implementable at this time,” he said. “The recommendation we have still for Lake Gonzales is that we leave the gate in its current condition and pursue, as we have done with the other hydroelectric lakes, a funding solution that will allow for a comprehensive repair of the spill gate and not attempt to address the 90-year-old spill gate that’s currently installed.”

In the early morning hours of Aug. 3, a tree floated down the lake, hit a spill gate, got stuck up against the structure, and remained wedged for some time, Hickman said. The large tree eventually dislodged and floated away but left the spill gate damaged, inoperable and open, he said.

Crews tried hours later to raise the spill gate but were unable to get it to budge, Hickman said. Fixing it would mean getting repair crews on top of the dam and in hazardous positions, which is dangerous, he said.

“For safety reasons, we will not be sending operators back up on the gates,” Hickman said. “We can’t come up with a way to try to perform these repairs that doesn’t require that at some point.”

Three of the six dams in the Guadalupe Lakes System have experienced spill gate failures. Lake Wood was the first, then Lake Dunlap and most recently Lake Gonzales.

Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority leadership has said the dams, all of which were built around 90 years ago, have outlived their usefulness.

Residents along Lake Dunlap, Lake McQueeney and Lake Placid formed Water Control Improvement Districts to pay for replacement of spill gates and save the lakes. Meadow Lake residents are in the process of determining the best way forward to save that lake.

Lake Gonzales and Lake Wood don’t have the population bases to create taxing districts and no other funding sources have been identified to save those lakes, GBRA leaders have said.

As always. "Money Talks"! The GBRA has never been held accountable on none of the dam failures. Just my two cents.

I would like to see the tree that was big enough to break the gate and then simply float away. GBRA's first story was they were operating the gate and it broke. But it is well known that GBRA is just a liar from start to finish.

Just curious as to where all of the money from selling the electricity over the past 90 years has gone. I bet someone or several got rich. To heck with maintenance or setting money aside for upgrades.

It didn't go into maintenance.

Words cannot describe GBRA. They are a group of people that have no ethics, morals, or conscience. What they are doing to people is inexcusable. The state of Texas should be stepping in and helping but we hear nothing but crickets from the state. GBRA is a "subdivision of the state" so everyone washes their hands of responsibility.

They make most of their money from selling water from Canyon and Dunlap. They do not care about the loss of electrical revenue. Basically, they are giving everyone who used the lakes, the middle finger. It is all about the cash and nothing about recreation, local economies, or GBRA's own mission statement.

Most of the generators have been off line for years due to no maintenance. GBRA has already told two stories of what happened. Read the press releases on this thread.

That may be why I said, in my post, they make most of their money from selling water.......... Why don't you read my post before typing?

I did. Just commenting that GBRA has mismanaged the electrical generation by letting the generators fail. You talk about water sales, I talk about electrical generation. Apples and oranges.

I pray for no-one getting hurt or causes damage to there property. Dang shame. SMH

Ibfish,

On Dulap, there have been several bulkheads that have been lost or at the very least settled. Concrete bulkheads and docks have shifted significantly due to the drying of the riverbed.

Many cypress trees (and others) are dead. If people did not jump on watering them early (where they could), they did not make it. A lot of folks are seeing homes shift too. GBRA should pay for all of this nonsense and the replacements of the dams....... It is GBRA's neglect of maintenance that caused this. I can just hope Sutter's law suit goes to the State Supreme court and he wins (doubtful).

I still write a letters weekly. Doesn't do any good but makes me feel better.