Austin Watershed Protection Department employees work to clean up Lady Bird Lake.

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High-rise residential, hotel and other commercial developments in the Rainey Street district tower above Lady Bird Lake in a view looking east from the First Street Bridge on May 28, 2024.

Given Houston's long list of issues, from budget to traffic woes, it might be easy to let dead bodies in our bayous become background noise, fading quietly downstream and out of mind.

A responsible city would not let that happen. So, Houston, what are you going to do about it?

Since 2017, more than 200 people have been found dead in our bayous and the numbers have been higher the past two years. An exclusive Chronicle analysis reveals a "stark, complex pattern of accidents, violence and vulnerabilities in a city built around bayous."

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This year, more than two dozen bodies have been recovered from the waters, fueling

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