The smell of ripe grass. The blinding purples, yellows, and whites of fall wildflowers. The buzz of pollinators deciding which stop to make next on the buffet. These are all elements of a strategic approach to flood mitigation across the Milwaukee, Wisconsin metropolitan area.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Berg. Restored wet prairie in MMSD’s Greenseams program.
US Water Alliance’s One Water Summit Explores Greenseams Program
I was asked to join the Texas delegation at the US Water Alliance’s annual conference earlier this fall. The One Water Summit brings together a wide swath of the water sector in the name of planning and managing all water resources (drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater) as part of an integrated process. Since every single drop has value, it’s only logical to treat it that way.
The week included plenty of time thinking and planning with municipal water departments from Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, but day one of the conference featured a number of field trips to different examples of the Milwaukee area’s water infrastructure. I chose to spend my afternoon learning about the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s (MMSD) Greenseams program.
Conservation of Parcels with Low and High Infiltration Rates Help Manage Flood Peaks
There are two broad approaches at the heart of the program: 1) conserve land parcels that are wet under normal conditions or that hold water after a rain event and 2) conserve land parcels with high infiltration rates to get water in the ground quickly. In certain areas, wetlands and prairies also undergo restoration efforts to improve performance even further.
Working together, these approaches mean strategic locations slow and hold water upstream to reduce flood peaks downstream and release it gradually over time at a more manageable rate. This results in reduced flood risk for private property and public infrastructure. A natural approach to flood mitigation!
Financing Programs in Surrounding Counties
Milwaukee County’s location means it lies at the end of multiple rivers flowing together just before they enter Lake Michigan. That also means Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee are at the receiving end of every interaction between rainfall and land use upstream, including areas far outside their respective jurisdictions.
For the field trip, our group visited a handful of adjacent former farm fields within the City of Franklin. Over the last couple decades, these have been restored to reintroduce prairie vegetation, reconnect historical hydrological features, and reduce erosion.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Berg. Restored prairie in MMSD’s Greenseams program.
As it so happened, our site visit took place just a day after one of the heaviest rainfalls in the region’s recorded history. Despite the downpour, the site was damp but entirely walkable, assuming you’re wearing something like hiking boots and not dress shoes! This site has moderately high infiltration rates, so water drains downward in a hurry. We saw photos from other sites that took the other approach and held substantial water on the surface before slowly releasing it downstream. We very much saw the action in real time.
Beyond Flood Mitigation to Water Quality Improvements, Too
It doesn’t end with flood mitigation, either. Depending on the characteristics of each site in the program and its conservation agreement, there are additional big benefits via ensuring clean drinking water, preserving wildlife habitat, and providing recreation opportunities for residents and visitors.
At the City of Franklin site we visited, it was obvious the rapidly developing surrounding area was already planning for additional trails to connect new neighborhoods to the site’s open space.
How Ideas Could Translate to Houston
You may be thinking that sounds all well and good for Milwaukee, but how about the Southeast Texas?
Houston locals spend a lot of time talking about the impermeable soils of our region. Yet according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the soil infiltration rates (how fast water moves down through the soil) of Harris County and Milwaukee County are actually quite comparable.
Granted, data from the National Weather Service’s Atlas 14 makes it clear that the intensity of rain events in Houston is much greater than in Milwaukee.
However, two more things that Houston and Milwaukee do have in common are increasing trends in precipitation intensity and a rapidly growing urban footprint. These two compound each other, with heavier rainfall on ever greater hard surfaces causing more and faster runoff.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Berg. Pickerelweed in Panther Branch watershed in Montgomery County, TX.
MMSD works with local land trusts in its region to make Greenseams a success. In the Houston region, groups like Bayou Land Conservancy, Coastal Prairie Conservancy, Galveston Bay Foundation, and Houston Audubon all play big roles in delivering benefits for flood mitigation and clean water supplies through land conservation from the very top of to the bottom of our region’s watersheds.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Berg. Riparian wetland along Spring Creek on the border between Harris County and Montgomery County.
The need is definitely present, and the pieces are there to make it happen. I guess you could say it sure “seams” like heartily pursuing such a regional strategy would be a great idea for Southeast Texas too.
By Dr. Matthew Berg, CEO & Principal Scientist, Simfero Consultants. Posted on 12/9/22
1928 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Note: Milwaukee is known as Cream City for the distinctive light color of the bricks produced there and widely used in its architecture.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Wildflower2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2022-12-09 12:19:162022-12-09 12:23:16Can Cream City Teach Bayou City about Flood Mitigation?
On Dec. 2, I printed a story about an upcoming virtual community meeting on Taylor Gully. At the time, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) had not yet released details yet on how to attend. They have now. See their press release below. Please share it with family, friends and neighbors if you live anywhere along Taylor Gully. That includes parts of Sherwood Trails, all of Elm Grove, all of North Kingwood Forest, parts of Mills Branch, Woodstream Forest, and even parts of Porter in Montgomery County. Yes, plans will affect Porter also.
Virtual Community Engagement Meeting for the Taylor Gully Flood Risk Reduction Project
HCFCD PROJECT G103-80-03.1-E001
BOND PROJECT F-14
The Harris County Flood Control District will hold a community engagement meeting for the Taylor Gully Flood Risk Reduction Project. The purpose of this meeting is to inform residents about the project’s status, share project information and gather important community input on this effort.
The Taylor Gully Flood Risk Reduction Project focuses on improvements to Taylor Gully and the mitigation required to build the project. This project will be partly funded through the 2018 Bond Program, which was approved by Harris County voters on August 25, 2018. Community engagement is a foundational component of the Bond Program, and we invite your participation and input as projects are implemented.
Register Now
The virtual community engagement meeting will be held on:
Or by phone* at 855-925-2801 with Meeting Code: 3364
The meeting will begin with a brief presentation to share project updates, followed by a moderated Q&A session with Flood Control District team members. Residents will be able to submit questions, comments and input before, during and after the meeting, which will be considered during project development. Any comments not addressed during the Q&A session will receive a response at the conclusion of the public comment period.
Even if you are unable to attend the live meeting, residents are encouraged to register for the meeting to receive future project updates. A recorded version of the meeting will be available on the Flood Control District’s website and YouTube channel after the event. Meeting accommodations can be made for those with disabilities. If needed, please contact 346-286-4040 at least three business days prior to the meeting. For questions, please contact the Flood Control District at 346-286-4000, or fill out the comment form online at hcfcd.org/taylor.
Esta reunión de participación comunitaria se llevará a cabo en inglés; sin embargo, el Flood Control District proporcionará intérpretes de idiomas y materiales traducidos a pedido. En caso de necesidad, comuníquese al 346-286-4040 al menos tres días hábiles antes de la reunión.
*If you attend by phone only, maps and other exhibits will not be visible. However, information will be available after the meeting on the project webpage at hcfcd.org/taylor.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/8/2022based on a press release from HCFCD
1927 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 1176 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221206-Taylor-Gully.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=112001200adminadmin2022-12-08 07:25:162022-12-08 07:36:21Save the Date: HCFCD Releases Details of Taylor Gully Meeting
During Harvey, 16,000 homes and 3,300 businesses in the Lake Houston Area flooded. Local leaders identified the disparity in release capacities between the Lake Conroe and Lake Houston Dams as one of the contributing factors to the severity of flooding. The floodgates on Lake Conroe can release water 15 times faster than the gates on Lake Houston. So, adding more floodgates to Lake Houston became one of the area’s primary mitigation goals.
New gates would let the City rapidly lower the water level of Lake Houston in advance of a storm to prevent or reduce upstream flooding.
Lake Houston (l) and Lake Conroe gates (r). Conroe release capacity is 15X greater.
While the City of Houston initially obtained a $50 million grant from FEMA to add gates, two problems became apparent. The project cost more than anticipated and the benefits delivered did not justify the cost – at least the way FEMA was initially calculating them. However, a huge hurdle has been cleared.
The City of Houston has finally secured a favorable ruling from FEMA on a benefit-to-cost ratio, according to a press release from Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin’s office on 12/7/2022. The key was the FEMA administrator’s decision to allow the inclusion of social benefits, for instance, avoidance of disruptions to business, commerce, schools and the area’s tax base. Those brought the BCR up to 2.88, according to Martin.
Martin, Mayor Sylvester Turner and Chief Recovery Officer Stephen Costello met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator to discuss the inequities of the Federal BCR formula associated with incorporation of social benefits.
As a result, Martin and Turner have announced that a large hurdle has been removed. The revised draft BCR for the Lake Houston Spillway Dam Improvement Project has been determined to be “federally compliant and is very favorable.”
The change affected the Lake Houston Gates and several other Houston stormwater projects including the massive, new Inwood Forest detention basin.
New BCR Based on Eleven Gates
Atkins, a City of Houston consultant, revised the BCR for an eleven-gate structure. The eleven gates will be built into the existing embankment on the east side of the Lake Houston Spillway Dam.
New gates would be added to the earthen portion of dam in foreground, not spillway at far end as originally planned.
Building the new gate structure in the east embankment removes the high construction risk of modifying the existing gate structure. It also allows continued use of the existing gate structure during construction, and eliminates the need for a coffer dam in the lake, according to Martin.
The new gates would likely align with the original course of the San Jacinto River, the channel on the left.
Cost Quadruples: Additional Funding Sources Now Necessary
The new preliminary cost estimate of $200 million exceeds the City’s original FEMA grant of $48 million.
Martin, Costello, and State Representative Dan Huberty have already met with the Texas House of Representatives Speaker Dade Phelan’s Director of Finance regarding additional funding. They have positioned the project as a “life and safety initiative” that affects the survival of the community and economy of the Lake Houston Area.
Martin has bi-partisan support already lined up for financing. Key partners this legislative session include:
Congressman Dan Crenshaw
State Senator Brandon Creighton
State Senator John Whitmire (who has already announced his intention to run for Houston mayor after Turner retires)
Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan
State Representative & Chair of Appropriations Dr. Greg Bonnen
State Representatives Charles Cunningham and Armando Walle.
Martin plans to work with Federal and State partners to ensure the cost of the Lake Houston Spillway Dam Project is fully funded before he leaves office in December 2023.
Said Martin, “Today a significant obstacle has been surpassed as this project moves forward through the financial process.” The new BCR should let federal, state, and local partners work toward fortifying the Lake Houston Area against future storms.
It would be unfair to call this a “start over.” A huge amount of engineering and analysis has gone into the project. However, challenges turned out to be greater than anyone anticipated after Harvey.
The original timetable from 12/16/19 showed the project completed by now. The fact that it is still alive is a tribute to the persistence of Martin, Turner, Costello and others.
Let’s look forward to the benefits, not backwards to the problems. People are working in the right direction. A huge obstacle has been eliminated. We just need to keep tackling new obstacles as they occur. Next step: the House and Senate.
I will post construction plans for the 11 gates and the Atkins’ BCR analysis as soon as the City supplies them; they promised they would.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/7/22
1926 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20220722-RJR_0770-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2022-12-07 10:55:302022-12-07 16:56:23City Gets Favorable Ruling on BCR for Lake Houston Gates Project
Can Cream City Teach Bayou City about Flood Mitigation?
The smell of ripe grass. The blinding purples, yellows, and whites of fall wildflowers. The buzz of pollinators deciding which stop to make next on the buffet. These are all elements of a strategic approach to flood mitigation across the Milwaukee, Wisconsin metropolitan area.
US Water Alliance’s One Water Summit Explores Greenseams Program
I was asked to join the Texas delegation at the US Water Alliance’s annual conference earlier this fall. The One Water Summit brings together a wide swath of the water sector in the name of planning and managing all water resources (drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater) as part of an integrated process. Since every single drop has value, it’s only logical to treat it that way.
The week included plenty of time thinking and planning with municipal water departments from Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, but day one of the conference featured a number of field trips to different examples of the Milwaukee area’s water infrastructure. I chose to spend my afternoon learning about the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s (MMSD) Greenseams program.
Conservation of Parcels with Low and High Infiltration Rates Help Manage Flood Peaks
There are two broad approaches at the heart of the program: 1) conserve land parcels that are wet under normal conditions or that hold water after a rain event and 2) conserve land parcels with high infiltration rates to get water in the ground quickly. In certain areas, wetlands and prairies also undergo restoration efforts to improve performance even further.
Working together, these approaches mean strategic locations slow and hold water upstream to reduce flood peaks downstream and release it gradually over time at a more manageable rate. This results in reduced flood risk for private property and public infrastructure. A natural approach to flood mitigation!
Financing Programs in Surrounding Counties
Milwaukee County’s location means it lies at the end of multiple rivers flowing together just before they enter Lake Michigan. That also means Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee are at the receiving end of every interaction between rainfall and land use upstream, including areas far outside their respective jurisdictions.
As a result, MMSD uses a mix of grants, bond funds, and service fees to strategically implement its program and preserve land not just within its own service area but on upstream portions of watersheds in a handful of surrounding counties. This makes for greater impact in Milwaukee County and also introduces flood mitigation benefits for many more communities throughout a much broader swath of watersheds in the region.
Link Between Restoration and Reduction
For the field trip, our group visited a handful of adjacent former farm fields within the City of Franklin. Over the last couple decades, these have been restored to reintroduce prairie vegetation, reconnect historical hydrological features, and reduce erosion.
As it so happened, our site visit took place just a day after one of the heaviest rainfalls in the region’s recorded history. Despite the downpour, the site was damp but entirely walkable, assuming you’re wearing something like hiking boots and not dress shoes! This site has moderately high infiltration rates, so water drains downward in a hurry. We saw photos from other sites that took the other approach and held substantial water on the surface before slowly releasing it downstream. We very much saw the action in real time.
Beyond Flood Mitigation to Water Quality Improvements, Too
It doesn’t end with flood mitigation, either. Depending on the characteristics of each site in the program and its conservation agreement, there are additional big benefits via ensuring clean drinking water, preserving wildlife habitat, and providing recreation opportunities for residents and visitors.
At the City of Franklin site we visited, it was obvious the rapidly developing surrounding area was already planning for additional trails to connect new neighborhoods to the site’s open space.
How Ideas Could Translate to Houston
You may be thinking that sounds all well and good for Milwaukee, but how about the Southeast Texas?
Houston locals spend a lot of time talking about the impermeable soils of our region. Yet according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the soil infiltration rates (how fast water moves down through the soil) of Harris County and Milwaukee County are actually quite comparable.
Granted, data from the National Weather Service’s Atlas 14 makes it clear that the intensity of rain events in Houston is much greater than in Milwaukee.
However, two more things that Houston and Milwaukee do have in common are increasing trends in precipitation intensity and a rapidly growing urban footprint. These two compound each other, with heavier rainfall on ever greater hard surfaces causing more and faster runoff.
MMSD works with local land trusts in its region to make Greenseams a success. In the Houston region, groups like Bayou Land Conservancy, Coastal Prairie Conservancy, Galveston Bay Foundation, and Houston Audubon all play big roles in delivering benefits for flood mitigation and clean water supplies through land conservation from the very top of to the bottom of our region’s watersheds.
The need is definitely present, and the pieces are there to make it happen. I guess you could say it sure “seams” like heartily pursuing such a regional strategy would be a great idea for Southeast Texas too.
By Dr. Matthew Berg, CEO & Principal Scientist, Simfero Consultants. Posted on 12/9/22
1928 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Note: Milwaukee is known as Cream City for the distinctive light color of the bricks produced there and widely used in its architecture.
Save the Date: HCFCD Releases Details of Taylor Gully Meeting
On Dec. 2, I printed a story about an upcoming virtual community meeting on Taylor Gully. At the time, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) had not yet released details yet on how to attend. They have now. See their press release below. Please share it with family, friends and neighbors if you live anywhere along Taylor Gully. That includes parts of Sherwood Trails, all of Elm Grove, all of North Kingwood Forest, parts of Mills Branch, Woodstream Forest, and even parts of Porter in Montgomery County. Yes, plans will affect Porter also.
Map of Project
Virtual Community Engagement Meeting for the
Taylor Gully Flood Risk Reduction Project
HCFCD PROJECT G103-80-03.1-E001
BOND PROJECT F-14
The Harris County Flood Control District will hold a community engagement meeting for the Taylor Gully Flood Risk Reduction Project. The purpose of this meeting is to inform residents about the project’s status, share project information and gather important community input on this effort.
The Taylor Gully Flood Risk Reduction Project focuses on improvements to Taylor Gully and the mitigation required to build the project. This project will be partly funded through the 2018 Bond Program, which was approved by Harris County voters on August 25, 2018. Community engagement is a foundational component of the Bond Program, and we invite your participation and input as projects are implemented.
Register Now
The virtual community engagement meeting will be held on:
December 14, 2022, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Join online at: PublicInput.com/taylor
Or by phone* at 855-925-2801 with Meeting Code: 3364
The meeting will begin with a brief presentation to share project updates, followed by a moderated Q&A session with Flood Control District team members. Residents will be able to submit questions, comments and input before, during and after the meeting, which will be considered during project development. Any comments not addressed during the Q&A session will receive a response at the conclusion of the public comment period.
Even if you are unable to attend the live meeting, residents are encouraged to register for the meeting to receive future project updates. A recorded version of the meeting will be available on the Flood Control District’s website and YouTube channel after the event. Meeting accommodations can be made for those with disabilities. If needed, please contact 346-286-4040 at least three business days prior to the meeting. For questions, please contact the Flood Control District at 346-286-4000, or fill out the comment form online at hcfcd.org/taylor.
Esta reunión de participación comunitaria se llevará a cabo en inglés; sin embargo, el Flood Control District proporcionará intérpretes de idiomas y materiales traducidos a pedido. En caso de necesidad, comuníquese al 346-286-4040 al menos tres días hábiles antes de la reunión.
*If you attend by phone only, maps and other exhibits will not be visible. However, information will be available after the meeting on the project webpage at hcfcd.org/taylor.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/8/2022 based on a press release from HCFCD
1927 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 1176 since Imelda
City Gets Favorable Ruling on BCR for Lake Houston Gates Project
During Harvey, 16,000 homes and 3,300 businesses in the Lake Houston Area flooded. Local leaders identified the disparity in release capacities between the Lake Conroe and Lake Houston Dams as one of the contributing factors to the severity of flooding. The floodgates on Lake Conroe can release water 15 times faster than the gates on Lake Houston. So, adding more floodgates to Lake Houston became one of the area’s primary mitigation goals.
While the City of Houston initially obtained a $50 million grant from FEMA to add gates, two problems became apparent. The project cost more than anticipated and the benefits delivered did not justify the cost – at least the way FEMA was initially calculating them. However, a huge hurdle has been cleared.
The City of Houston has finally secured a favorable ruling from FEMA on a benefit-to-cost ratio, according to a press release from Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin’s office on 12/7/2022. The key was the FEMA administrator’s decision to allow the inclusion of social benefits, for instance, avoidance of disruptions to business, commerce, schools and the area’s tax base. Those brought the BCR up to 2.88, according to Martin.
Hurdle Removed: Project Now Federally Compliant
Earlier this summer, Martin announced challenges related to the Lake Houston Spillway Dam Improvement Project. The City needed to secure a benefit to cost ratio (BCR) between .75 and 1 and had examined multiple alternatives to find a favorable balance between costs and benefits.
Martin, Mayor Sylvester Turner and Chief Recovery Officer Stephen Costello met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator to discuss the inequities of the Federal BCR formula associated with incorporation of social benefits.
As a result, Martin and Turner have announced that a large hurdle has been removed. The revised draft BCR for the Lake Houston Spillway Dam Improvement Project has been determined to be “federally compliant and is very favorable.”
The change affected the Lake Houston Gates and several other Houston stormwater projects including the massive, new Inwood Forest detention basin.
New BCR Based on Eleven Gates
Atkins, a City of Houston consultant, revised the BCR for an eleven-gate structure. The eleven gates will be built into the existing embankment on the east side of the Lake Houston Spillway Dam.
Building the new gate structure in the east embankment removes the high construction risk of modifying the existing gate structure. It also allows continued use of the existing gate structure during construction, and eliminates the need for a coffer dam in the lake, according to Martin.
Cost Quadruples: Additional Funding Sources Now Necessary
The new preliminary cost estimate of $200 million exceeds the City’s original FEMA grant of $48 million.
Martin, Costello, and State Representative Dan Huberty have already met with the Texas House of Representatives Speaker Dade Phelan’s Director of Finance regarding additional funding. They have positioned the project as a “life and safety initiative” that affects the survival of the community and economy of the Lake Houston Area.
Martin has bi-partisan support already lined up for financing. Key partners this legislative session include:
Martin plans to work with Federal and State partners to ensure the cost of the Lake Houston Spillway Dam Project is fully funded before he leaves office in December 2023.
Said Martin, “Today a significant obstacle has been surpassed as this project moves forward through the financial process.” The new BCR should let federal, state, and local partners work toward fortifying the Lake Houston Area against future storms.
It would be unfair to call this a “start over.” A huge amount of engineering and analysis has gone into the project. However, challenges turned out to be greater than anyone anticipated after Harvey.
The original timetable from 12/16/19 showed the project completed by now. The fact that it is still alive is a tribute to the persistence of Martin, Turner, Costello and others.
Let’s look forward to the benefits, not backwards to the problems. People are working in the right direction. A huge obstacle has been eliminated. We just need to keep tackling new obstacles as they occur. Next step: the House and Senate.
I will post construction plans for the 11 gates and the Atkins’ BCR analysis as soon as the City supplies them; they promised they would.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/7/22
1926 Days since Hurricane Harvey