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May 9, 2019<\/p>\n
The Corps of Engineers is studying ways of reducing flooding<\/a> along Buffalo Bayou and its many tributaries<\/a>, including upstream and downstream of Addicks and Barker dams in west Houston, as well as the federal dams themselves.<\/p>\n The Corps\u2019 Galveston District has been conducting a series of public meetings explaining possible approaches to reducing flood risk and seeking public comment. The last public meeting is tonight, May 9, from 6 to 9 at the Cypress Ridge High School, 7900 N. Eldridge Parkway. But the public comment period doesn\u2019t end until May 31.<\/p>\n Here is a link to the Corps\u2019 presentation<\/a> at the meetings. Here is a link to the storyboards<\/a> presented at the meetings.<\/p>\n And here is the email address<\/a> for asking questions and sending in your comments and suggestions about what the Corps and the Harris County Flood Control District (and Fort Bend County) should be doing about flooding. Note that this does not include what the City of Houston could or should do.<\/p>\n The three primary problems being addressed by the Corps are:<\/p>\n The various suggested approaches are heavy on big engineering projects like flood tunnels, bypasses, new dams and reservoirs, increasing the storage capacity of the reservoirs, and \u201cchannel improvements\u201d along Buffalo Bayou and other streams flowing into it.<\/p>\n But the alternatives also include floodproofing, better warning systems, signage, and public education; stormwater detention, and \u201cproperty acquisition,\u201d which could mean buyouts of flood-prone properties as well as preservation of forest and prairie, which help slow and absorb rainwater.<\/p>\n Save Buffalo Bayou is in favor of stopping and slowing stormwater runoff before<\/strong> it floods our bayous and streams. This is modern floodplain management<\/a>. That means more trees and greenspace, more wetlands and prairies, more detention in neighborhoods and shopping malls, more permeable surface. Focusing on collecting and conveying more stormwater faster\u2014and destroying our natural landscape and drainage system in order to do it\u2014only leads to more flooding. Dredging, deepening, and widening the bayou and other streams only leads to bank collapse, constant maintenance and repair, and more flooding. \u00a0(See here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>.) It\u2019s like building bigger freeways: it doesn\u2019t work<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another problem with hard structures: They don’t move. Nature does.<\/p>\n Preserving old stands of trees, natural swales, wetlands, oxbows, vegetated riparian areas, and meanders; building small weirs, sediment structures, wet gardens, and setback levees; lengthening streams, and accepting large woody debris in the channel are useful techniques. Using these practices to work with the natural motion of the river is more effective \u2013 and less expensive \u2013 in reducing flood damage and helping us realize benefits from the water. <\/em><\/p>\n Floodplain Management: A New Approach for a New Era<\/em>,<\/a> p. 137<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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