Dead Fish Clean Up

Residents of First Colony LID No. 2 may have noticed that the recent freezing weather has caused some non-native fish species to die. The species impacted most were Tilapia, which is a non-native tropical fish having a significantly lower tolerance of prolonged exposure to low water temperatures compared to native species of fish. As water temperatures drop, their metabolism slows, and immune system becomes weakened. Once this happens, the chances of these fish expiring increases significantly. Even as air temperatures rise into the 70s, water temperatures can remain in the 50s. This prolongs the stresses of cold temperatures on the fishery resulting in fish succumbing to the elements several days after the freezing weather has ended. This is referred to as delayed mortality. Because of this delay, observers are often confused by the timing of the deceased fish’s appearance at the surface.

To alleviate this nuisance, the District is working to remove as many deceased fish from the lake as possible, but unfortunately not all fish will surface at the same time and park goers will continue to see dead fish in the lake and along the lake shore until all fish of susceptible species have surfaced.

FCLID2 Updates – October 29, 2024

The First Colony Levee Improvement District #2 (FCLID2) has several ongoing projects in the works. After our experiences with several high-water events, including Hurricane Harvey, we saw the need for a place to house our flood-fighting crews. They work 12 hours on and 12 hours off, and for various reasons are unable to leave the community. Sleeping on cots in the control center with no place to shower and clean up was not working. We recently started construction of sleeping quarters that are being added onto the side of the existing pump station control center. This will provide a bedroom, with a full bath, laundry closet, and kitchenette. It will be shared by the two crews. We will also now have restroom facilities for the control center instead of bringing in porta-potties. This new construction was badly needed to properly conduct the flood-fighting mission of our LID.

We have also recently completed the installation of an additional irrigation area on the levee just north of the Pump Station. We already had one irrigation area for the levee immediately adjacent to the pump station and outfall facility that has been working well. Irrigation is needed because droughts cause severe shrinkage cracks in the fill dirt that our levees are made of. The irrigation eliminates those cracks and has the side benefit of keeping the Bermuda grass green. The system that we have installed is a commercial system with many safety controls added to prevent accidental damage to the levee should a valve malfunction. We are requesting bids to do other sections of the levee as funds permit.

Lastly, we are still spending many hours each month working towards getting more fair and reasonable pricing on flood insurance premiums for our residents. We are working within the Fort Bend Levee Coalition (FBLC) to talk to Senators and Congressmen for legislation favorable to our cause. Additionally, we are speaking to FEMA on a regular basis to get them to clean up their latest Risk Rating 2.0 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). We are also working with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at the Galveston District to help us in this task. They have conducted several inspections of our facilities over the years and are very aware of the quality of our system. We requested that the USACE, Galveston District, provide us with an evaluation report that we can send to FEMA which is expected to lower our residents’ flood insurance premiums significantly. They have been working on this evaluation for a while, and it is expected to still be several months out. Once they have signed off, it will be forwarded to FEMA.

Ron