McLennan County commissioners approve project to lower Cow Bayou #5 water levels

MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) - McLennan County is taking emergency action to lower water levels at Cow Bayou #5 in Bruceville-Eddy.

This is all happening off of Park Lake Drive and Lake Shore Drive. Homeowners there recently reached out to the county concerned about the rising water levels flooding their homes.

“There’s water already going over the emergency spillway into an area that, if it’s already saturated, could cause flooding,” county judge Scott Felton said.

The project was approved by the McLennan County Commissioners at a meeting on Tuesday.

Cow Bayou #5 is four feet away from cresting and any more rain could cause it to flood about 30 nearby homes.

”The emergency action will be adding additional pipes in the lake to reroute the water to under the dam so it won’t overcrest the dam,” county engineer Zane Dunnam said.

Work will begin immediately and the project is valued at about $50,000.

”The lake is a very large lake, so it will take a number of weeks to lower the dam,” Dunnam said.

Judge Felton said in recent years more and more homes are being built in areas like Cow Bayou, even though they’re in flood zones.

”A lot of people in the past 20 years they’ve seen more drought than they’ve seen wet,” Judge Felton said. “So they think it’s okay to build in those low line areas.”

The commissioners’ course of action is a way to protect homes both upstream and downstream from future flooding.

”We’re hoping that in the next week or so we can get it low enough so it will not flood the dam,” Dunnam said.

The county engineer added that crews will be diverted from other road work projects to work on damaged low water crossings and bridges. He expects those repairs to take years.