Water woes From the cover
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Conroe’s
LAKE CONROE
Two-minute impact
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The city of Conroe is weighing the decision to expand its development moratorium citywide due to ongoing water infrastructure limitations. Currently, the moratorium—first enacted in August 2024—affects roughly 5,000 residential lots in the city’s northern region, Cody Miller said. These lots range from raw, undeveloped land to platted lots that builders are unable to build on. City officials said they believe the expansion is necessary to prevent overloading a strained water system, although developers and industry advocates warn the impact could be severe. Jason Miller, assistant director of public works, said at the April 23 workshop that last April, the city was producing 15.4 million gallons a day. This year, the number has increased to 17 million. Cody Miller said the moratorium is already disrupting business and stalling economic growth. Builders have been forced to halt projects or relocate development plans to nearby cities with more reliable infrastructure. In a May 2 interview, Mayor Duke Coon said the city immediately needs six water wells and will need up to 13 wells between now and 2037, with each costing around $12 million to $15 million. Community Impact reached out to city officials for further comment on its water infrastructure projects but did not hear back prior to press time.
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Conroe
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FISH CREEK THOROUGHFARE
WEST FORK SAN JACINTO RIVER
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Conroe's WATER SITUATION The city’s temporary development moratorium encompasses the northern portion of the city. Conroe leaders are considering expanding it citywide. Moratorium limits Conroe city limits Completed water wells
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NOTE: THIS MAP IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE AND DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL OF THE CITY OF CONROE’S WATER INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS.
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MAP NOT TO SCALE
SOURCE: CITY OF CONROE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
How we got here
what was approved,” Taylor said. “We fell behind every year based on what we needed to continue growing as a city.” Between 2011-22, she said over $112.5 million was spent on beautification or developer-driven projects instead of water infrastructure. Taylor also said theoretically six additional water wells would have been producing water today had funding been allocated as requested.
The water concerns came to light in April 2024 after the city’s first-ever boil water notice, council member Howard Wood said in a May 2 email. Coon and council members Wood and Harry Hardman pointed to years of underinvestment. “The previous administration was extremely opaque in submitting water and sewer CIP [capital improvement project] projects to [City] Council for approval and chose to focus on nonstrategic,
‘feel good’ projects like the hotel instead of boring infrastructure projects,” Hardman said in a May 2 email. “We are now seeing the effects of that misprioritization.” In a presentation to council May 7, Brandy Taylor, purchasing contract administrator for the city of Conroe, said a pattern of underfunding key water projects began in 2011. “Our requests were always way more than
REQUESTED APPROVED Water infrastructure funding requests in Conroe vs.
SOURCE: CITY OF CONROE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
$0 $10M $20M $30M $40M $50M
$48.5M
$45.9M
FY 2014-15
FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17
FY 2017-18 FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21
FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 FY 2023-24
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