Lake level, the shoreline line and the water-level notice
Checking a Lake Conroe Waterfront Lot: Lake Level, Shoreline and Lake Bed Lines
Updated October 2026
What should I check about lake level and the shoreline line on a Lake Conroe lot before I make an offer?
As of October 2026, check where the survey puts a Lake Conroe lot against the 201-foot normal pool and the 207-foot easement line, because the level moves.
Kim Vargas, Houston Properties Team, Lake Conroe
Source: San Jacinto River Authority Lake Conroe, bayou and creek update, carried in the Harris County Flood Control District news room, September 2019.
How far does Lake Conroe's water level move?
Lake Conroe's normal pool is 201 feet above mean sea level. The San Jacinto River Authority holds the lake near that line, and use, evaporation or a requested release draws it down.
A San Jacinto River Authority update from September 19, 2019, carried in the Harris County Flood Control District news room, read 199.02 feet. That was two feet under normal pool. Rain over the watershed had averaged just over an inch in 24 hours, so all the dam's gates stayed closed and no water went out.
The range runs wider than that. The authority's records put the low at 192.68 feet on December 2, 2011. The high was 206.24 feet on August 28, 2017, the day the dam released a record 79,141 cubic feet per second.
A dock seen on a low day and the same dock at full pool can sit in very different water. Ask the seller how the slip fared in 2017 and at low water, and read the seller's disclosure beside the survey.
Which lines on a Lake Conroe survey mark the shore and the land below it?
The San Jacinto River Authority's rules, in force since June 1, 2015, draw the first line. Land that is, may be or has been under the lake counts as Authority Land, together with the land beside it up to the 201-foot contour.
Owning the waterfront lot brings no right to build on that land. Every dock, boathouse or bulkhead there needs the authority's permit, and it can require an unpermitted structure removed at the owner's cost.
The second line is 207 feet, the top of the authority's flowage easement. That is the band the lake can rise into in a storm, and the rules treat it separately from the land below 201 feet. The 2017 crest stopped less than a foot short of it.
Ask for a survey that marks both lines and places every structure against the property lines. An elevation certificate gives the lot's height against 207 feet. The FEMA flood map separately decides whether a lender requires flood cover.
What does Texas law say about a lake's shoreline and its bed?
For littoral tracts, meaning land that fronts a lake, the Texas Real Estate Research Center gives a simplified definition of the shoreline: the average daily high-water level.
The Texas Real Estate Research Center states the general Texas rule for a lake made when a person legally dams a stream. In the Texas Real Estate Research Center's summary, the old stream bed is the state's, and the rest of the lake bed is the landowner's. The Texas Real Estate Research Center adds that boundaries may differ where a property description says otherwise.
Lake Conroe was built by damming the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, and its dam was finished in January 1973. Those general rules sit beside the river authority's Authority Land rules. For one lot, the deed, the survey and those rules are read together, and a Texas real estate attorney can read them for you.
If a person legally dams a stream to create a lake, the stream bed is owned by the state; the rest of the lake bed is owned by the landowner.
Questions & answers
Lake Conroe questions, answered
When must a seller give me the notice that Lake Conroe's water level fluctuates?
The Texas Real Estate Research Center says the notice must be given on or before the effective date of the sales contract. It covers residential and commercial landowners adjoining water impoundments with a storage capacity of at least 5,000 acre feet at normal operating levels, the Texas Real Estate Research Center writes. The river authority's permit lets it hold about 430,000 acre-feet in Lake Conroe.
The notice has set content. In the Texas Real Estate Research Center's account, it must state that the water level of the adjoining impoundment fluctuates for various reasons. Those reasons include an entity lawfully exercising its right to use the stored water, and drought or flood conditions. On Lake Conroe the City of Houston holds two-thirds of the water rights, and releases ahead of a storm come at the city's request. Ask your agent to have the notice in hand before you sign, so its date is never in question.
What can I do if the Lake Conroe water-level notice arrives after the contract is signed?
You can end the contract. The Texas Real Estate Research Center says that if the notice is not timely delivered, the purchaser may terminate for any reason within seven days after the notice is delivered. The Texas Real Estate Research Center gives a second starting point too: seven days after the required information is received from a third party.
Both windows are short, and each counts from a delivery, so note the day the notice or the information reaches you. On a lake house those days can fall while the survey, the river authority's dock license and the bulkhead permit are still coming in. A notice delivered on time removes the question, so the date belongs at the top of the offer file.
If the bank in front of a Lake Conroe lot wears away or builds up, does the property line move?
As a general rule, yes. The Texas Real Estate Research Center says an owner gains or loses title to land gradually or imperceptibly added to or taken from the shoreline. The Texas Real Estate Research Center also sets a limit: the owner may not intentionally build up the land and then claim the dry land as her own.
On Lake Conroe, work at the water's edge has its own permits. The San Jacinto River Authority's rules make it a violation to install, replace or change a bulkhead without its permit. Dredging, digging or filling in the lake or on its land needs a permit of its own. That work must also meet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Galveston District rules. Ask the seller whether the shore has been filled or a bulkhead moved, and match any change to its permit. A survey drawn before the change will not show it.
Does the river authority keep enough water at a Lake Conroe dock?
No. The San Jacinto River Authority's rules say it is under no obligation to keep the lake at any particular level so private structures can be built or used. Its general manager may also limit building or use by permit when the lake level changes, for public health and safety, or in an emergency.
The authority's yearly dock fee is measured at full pool, 201 feet, whatever the lake reads that day. The fee is $0.188 per square foot with a $60 minimum. The fee stays the same when the water drops, while the depth at the slip does not. Releases ahead of a storm come when the City of Houston asks for its water. The 2024 protocol allowed lowering in six-inch steps, and it ran only to the end of 2024.
Does a Lake Conroe deed that runs to the shore include the lake bed?
Not by that call alone. The Texas Real Estate Research Center puts it plainly: a call to the shore of a lake does not include the bed. A deed's description is read with the survey, which shows where the lot meets the water. On Lake Conroe the survey should also mark the 201-foot contour, where the river authority's land begins.
Ask for the deed and the plat early in the option period. Plats are recorded with the county's property records, and the county the lot sits in decides which clerk holds it. Have a Texas real estate attorney read the description against the survey. The Texas Real Estate Research Center gives general Texas rules, so the wording of one deed decides one lot. Where a description and the survey disagree about the waterline, settle it before closing.
What should my agent ask a Lake Conroe seller for about the shore before the option period ends?
The license numbers for each dock, boathouse or lift, the separate bulkhead permit, the yearly fee receipts and the survey. Add any easement encroachment agreement recorded against the lot and any association approval for the structures. Kim Vargas of Real Broker, LLC asks the seller for the license numbers and fee receipts before the option period ends, so a buyer knows what the house carries before closing.
Kim Vargas has held a Texas real estate license since February 2016. Her client experience rating on the Houston Association of Realtors' site is 4.98 out of 5 from 87 completed surveys (September 2026). Kim has lived on Lake Conroe for ten years and has closed 14 sales on the lake since 2021, most recently in July 2026 (Houston Properties Team records, September 2026). Ask every agent you interview which of those papers they request, and on which day of the option period.
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