The homes didn’t flood. And they didn’t lose water, electricity or the Internet. They did lose a traffic light, a couple stop signs and some palm trees, but that was about it, even though surrounding communities experienced structural damage and power outages.
Building Techniques and Standards Increase Resiliency
How can that be? The story cited:
The location – 30 miles inland to avoid coastal surge.
Buried power lines shielded from high winds.
Retention ponds ringing the development.
Homes elevated high above street level
Solar energy with natural gas and generators for backup.
Higher than normal building standards for the area.
A community center designed to double as a reinforced storm shelter
Master planning
Sustainable, “hardened” water and sewage systems.
One of the engineers who designed the community lives there. She said that it might not survive a direct hit from a stronger storm, but everything performed as planned during Ian for the most part. Hurricane Ian provided “proof of concept” for the community’s design.
She added “The developers of Babcock Ranch welcome imitators. Communities elsewhere in the U.S. might benefit from what has been learned here.”
America’s First Sustainable Solar-Powered Town
A local TV station quoted the developer as saying, “It just doesn’t make sense to rebuild the same way every time, knowing that the next time a storm comes by, we end up in the same place.” He proudly calls the 18,000 acre community “America’s first sustainable solar-powered town.”
Nearly 700,000 solar panels create enough clean energy (150 megawatts) to power nearly 30,000 homes. They not only power the growing community of nearly 2,000 homes, but also feed the region. They’re tied to the grid owned by Florida Light & Power.
“There needs to be a lot of thought that goes into how to build, if we’re going to be along the coast, in a way that is resilient,” said Sydney Kitson, the developer.
“Recovery Took Nearly a Day”
Even as residents breathed a sigh of relief after the storm, they were reaching out to help those in less fortunate neighboring communities.
The story of Babcock Ranch and Hurricane Ian was so remarkable that even CBS’ 60-Minutes did a segment on it. See it 10 minutes into the video.
In it, Kitson says that he jumped in his car and drove around after the storm cleared. “We lost a few shingles,” he said. “Recovery took nearly a day.”
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221013-Screen-Shot-2022-10-13-at-4.13.44-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C672&ssl=16721200adminadmin2022-10-13 16:24:052022-10-13 16:44:32Hurricane Ian Provides Proof of Concept for Sustainable Community
A hot-spot analysis of subsidence in the Houston metro area during the period from 2016 to 2020 revealed total subsidence of up to 9 centimeters in some areas. Rates of subsidence approached 2 cm per year. (Two centimeters equals 0.8 inches. Nine centimeters = 3.54 inches.)
The scientific study, named “Surface Deformation Analysis of the Houston Area Using Time Series Interferometry and Emerging Hot Spot Analysis” appeared in a scientific journal called Remote Sensing. Authors included Shuhab D. Khan, Otto C. A. Gadea, Alyssa Tello Alvarado and Osman A. Tirmizi from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston.
Correlating InSAR Data with Well Data
The authors correlated observations of surface deformation using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data with an analysis of 71,000 water and and 5,000 oil-and-gas wells in the Houston area. They collected the InSAR data over 5 years and the well data going back 31 years.
USGS calls InSAR an effective way to measure changes in land-surface altitude. The images are compiled by using radar signals with a very high degree of resolution bounced off Earth from orbiting satellites. By measuring the time for the signals to travel to earth and back, researches can measure altitude. And by superimposing images taken at different times, researchers can measure changes in altitude over time.
Documenting Link between Subsidence and Groundwater Pumping
Khan and his team sought to determine how much groundwater pumping contributed to subsidence (sinking ground). They performed the same analysis for oil and gas pumping.
The researchers found the greatest subsidence – which had not been previously reported – in some of the region’s fast-growing suburbs – Katy, Spring, The Woodlands, Fresno and Mont Belvieu. They identified groundwater pumping as the primary cause in the first four, and oil and gas pumping as the primary cause in Mont Belvieu.
Otto Gadea, a graduate student from Khan’s team is quoted in Phys.org as saying, “We determined for the suburbs that excessive groundwater extraction appears to be the primary driver of subsidence.”
Population Growth Drives Groundwater Pumping
With population growth, groundwater extraction has become more prevalent in the Houston area. But subsidence is no longer substantial in areas that regulate it through entities such as the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District.
The Appearance of Regulation as Cover for Private Interests
Website’s such as StopOurSinking.com have long linked excessive groundwater pumping in Montgomery County with a host of issues ranging from subsidence, flooding, pavement breaks, and foundation shifting to pipeline problems. However, the LSGCD Board has cherry-picked scientific evidence that supports unlimited groundwater pumping.
This latest study by the UH team will make that harder. It validates many of the claims StopOurSinking has made for years. Khan’s team even concluded that subsidence may even cause fault movement in the area.
Link to Fault Movement, Too
“If current ground pumping trends continue, faults in Katy and The Woodlands will likely become reactivated and increase in activity over time,” the authors write. No seismic activity is reported along these faults yet they say. They believe the movement is happening by “aseismic creep.” However, Khan and his team found evidence of fault activity in “damages to roads, buildings and other infrastructure in the vicinity of these faults. Displacement along some is measured by up to 3 cm/year.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/12/22
1870 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221012-Screen-Shot-2022-10-12-at-12.21.48-PM.jpg?fit=1180%2C1200&ssl=112001180adminadmin2022-10-12 20:23:112022-10-12 20:23:16New UH Study Finds Subsidence Increasing in Houston Suburbs
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) transmitted an update to Commissioners Court today that shows the progress of the flood bond through September 2022. The report shows slowing activity. Specifically:
No new construction contracts or other agreements were awarded in the last month.
Total spending increased only $21 million – from $1.104 billion to $1.125 billion.
Overall progress remained unchanged from August. It’s holding at 23.5% complete.
The amount of “Professional Services Invoices Paid” declined from $4.8 million to $1.7 million.
Home buyouts “in progress” declined from 331 to 305 (-26).
Improvements Since Harvey
The update also included a list of accomplishments since Harvey. HCFCD has:
Completed 229 project components, reducing the risk of flooding for more than 14,000 homes and businesses
Removed an estimated 4.7 million cubic yards of sediment from channels across Harris County through maintenance efforts – the equivalent of approximately 335,000 dump truck loads – to ensure stormwater can move through channels efficiently
Acquired more than 21,500 acres of land for projects, floodplain preservation and buyouts to ensure floodwaters can spread out safely without structures that can flood
Secured more than $1.35 billion in partnership funding while pursuing more funding opportunities at the federal, state and local levels.
Started the third batch of major maintenance activities along Cypress Creek.
Where Money Has Gone
Note that the September update (reported in October) actually contains figures compiled through the end of August. The map below shows where more than $1.1 billion has gone.
From Page 9 of September HCFCD Flood-Bond Update
Budget Priorities
Here’s how that spending looks in table form arranged in order from highest to lowest based on spending through the end of August (column 3).
This spending shows a huge disparity among watersheds. The ratio between Brays and Vince is 335 to 1.
The table also shows the effect of “equity prioritization” – concentrating on watersheds with a high percentage of low-to-moderate income (LMI) residents.
Eight LMI watersheds have received a total of $447.5 million for an average of $55.9 million each.
Yet the 15 otherwatersheds have received a total of $460.2 million for an average of $30.7 million each – roughly half as much.
The entire Lake Houston Area still has only two active capital improvement construction projects – valued at $1,000 each. Both are Excavation and Removal Contracts – one in Woodridge Village and the other in the Cedar Bayou Watershed.
Slowdown in Spending Bears More Investigation
The most worrisome aspect of this update is a continued slowdown in activity. At the current rate of spending, HCFCD would spend less than half the money in the bond in the next six years. Remember, we’re four years into a ten-year, $5 billion program. At $20 million per month for the next 60 months, HCFCD would spend only another $1.2 billion. That would cover only about half the projects in the bond.
However, note that in project management, sometimes pauses are built into projects for things such as approvals, right-of-way acquisition, etc. The real question is whether such pauses can explain the current slowdown. HCFCD is investigating to see how much, if any of the slowdown, is planned. More on that next month.
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221011-Screen-Shot-2022-10-11-at-10.50.19-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C913&ssl=19131200adminadmin2022-10-11 15:05:592022-10-11 15:32:06September 2022 Flood Bond Update
Hurricane Ian Provides Proof of Concept for Sustainable Community
On October 6, 2022, NPR published a fascinating story by Scott Neumann about a Florida development that survived Hurricane Ian “with barely a scratch.” The community, called Babcock Ranch, is just north of Fort Myers. It didn’t bear the full brunt of the Cat 4 storm, but it did weather 100-mph winds with barely any disruption because of the way it was built.
The homes didn’t flood. And they didn’t lose water, electricity or the Internet. They did lose a traffic light, a couple stop signs and some palm trees, but that was about it, even though surrounding communities experienced structural damage and power outages.
Building Techniques and Standards Increase Resiliency
How can that be? The story cited:
One of the engineers who designed the community lives there. She said that it might not survive a direct hit from a stronger storm, but everything performed as planned during Ian for the most part. Hurricane Ian provided “proof of concept” for the community’s design.
She added “The developers of Babcock Ranch welcome imitators. Communities elsewhere in the U.S. might benefit from what has been learned here.”
America’s First Sustainable Solar-Powered Town
A local TV station quoted the developer as saying, “It just doesn’t make sense to rebuild the same way every time, knowing that the next time a storm comes by, we end up in the same place.” He proudly calls the 18,000 acre community “America’s first sustainable solar-powered town.”
Nearly 700,000 solar panels create enough clean energy (150 megawatts) to power nearly 30,000 homes. They not only power the growing community of nearly 2,000 homes, but also feed the region. They’re tied to the grid owned by Florida Light & Power.
“There needs to be a lot of thought that goes into how to build, if we’re going to be along the coast, in a way that is resilient,” said Sydney Kitson, the developer.
“Recovery Took Nearly a Day”
Even as residents breathed a sigh of relief after the storm, they were reaching out to help those in less fortunate neighboring communities.
The story of Babcock Ranch and Hurricane Ian was so remarkable that even CBS’ 60-Minutes did a segment on it. See it 10 minutes into the video.
In it, Kitson says that he jumped in his car and drove around after the storm cleared. “We lost a few shingles,” he said. “Recovery took nearly a day.”
I’ll bet a lot of people in Florida right now wish every developer thought like Kitson. He seems to have lived up to all the accolades heaped on his development. It all starts with respecting the power of Mother Nature.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/13/22
1871 Days since Hurricane Harvey
New UH Study Finds Subsidence Increasing in Houston Suburbs
A hot-spot analysis of subsidence in the Houston metro area during the period from 2016 to 2020 revealed total subsidence of up to 9 centimeters in some areas. Rates of subsidence approached 2 cm per year. (Two centimeters equals 0.8 inches. Nine centimeters = 3.54 inches.)
The scientific study, named “Surface Deformation Analysis of the Houston Area Using Time Series Interferometry and Emerging Hot Spot Analysis” appeared in a scientific journal called Remote Sensing. Authors included Shuhab D. Khan, Otto C. A. Gadea, Alyssa Tello Alvarado and Osman A. Tirmizi from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston.
Correlating InSAR Data with Well Data
The authors correlated observations of surface deformation using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data with an analysis of 71,000 water and and 5,000 oil-and-gas wells in the Houston area. They collected the InSAR data over 5 years and the well data going back 31 years.
USGS calls InSAR an effective way to measure changes in land-surface altitude. The images are compiled by using radar signals with a very high degree of resolution bounced off Earth from orbiting satellites. By measuring the time for the signals to travel to earth and back, researches can measure altitude. And by superimposing images taken at different times, researchers can measure changes in altitude over time.
Documenting Link between Subsidence and Groundwater Pumping
Khan and his team sought to determine how much groundwater pumping contributed to subsidence (sinking ground). They performed the same analysis for oil and gas pumping.
The researchers found the greatest subsidence – which had not been previously reported – in some of the region’s fast-growing suburbs – Katy, Spring, The Woodlands, Fresno and Mont Belvieu. They identified groundwater pumping as the primary cause in the first four, and oil and gas pumping as the primary cause in Mont Belvieu.
Otto Gadea, a graduate student from Khan’s team is quoted in Phys.org as saying, “We determined for the suburbs that excessive groundwater extraction appears to be the primary driver of subsidence.”
Population Growth Drives Groundwater Pumping
With population growth, groundwater extraction has become more prevalent in the Houston area. But subsidence is no longer substantial in areas that regulate it through entities such as the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District.
The Appearance of Regulation as Cover for Private Interests
Other counties have set up entities to regulate ground water withdrawal, such as the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District (LSGCD) in Montgomery County. However, the elected board chose not to include a subsidence limit in its desired future conditions. Many of the board members were backed by money from Quadvest, the area’s largest private groundwater pumper.
Website’s such as StopOurSinking.com have long linked excessive groundwater pumping in Montgomery County with a host of issues ranging from subsidence, flooding, pavement breaks, and foundation shifting to pipeline problems. However, the LSGCD Board has cherry-picked scientific evidence that supports unlimited groundwater pumping.
This latest study by the UH team will make that harder. It validates many of the claims StopOurSinking has made for years. Khan’s team even concluded that subsidence may even cause fault movement in the area.
Link to Fault Movement, Too
“If current ground pumping trends continue, faults in Katy and The Woodlands will likely become reactivated and increase in activity over time,” the authors write. No seismic activity is reported along these faults yet they say. They believe the movement is happening by “aseismic creep.” However, Khan and his team found evidence of fault activity in “damages to roads, buildings and other infrastructure in the vicinity of these faults. Displacement along some is measured by up to 3 cm/year.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/12/22
1870 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
September 2022 Flood Bond Update
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) transmitted an update to Commissioners Court today that shows the progress of the flood bond through September 2022. The report shows slowing activity. Specifically:
Improvements Since Harvey
The update also included a list of accomplishments since Harvey. HCFCD has:
Where Money Has Gone
Note that the September update (reported in October) actually contains figures compiled through the end of August. The map below shows where more than $1.1 billion has gone.
Budget Priorities
Here’s how that spending looks in table form arranged in order from highest to lowest based on spending through the end of August (column 3).
This spending shows a huge disparity among watersheds. The ratio between Brays and Vince is 335 to 1.
The table also shows the effect of “equity prioritization” – concentrating on watersheds with a high percentage of low-to-moderate income (LMI) residents.
Eight LMI watersheds have received a total of $447.5 million for an average of $55.9 million each.
Yet the 15 other watersheds have received a total of $460.2 million for an average of $30.7 million each – roughly half as much.
The entire Lake Houston Area still has only two active capital improvement construction projects – valued at $1,000 each. Both are Excavation and Removal Contracts – one in Woodridge Village and the other in the Cedar Bayou Watershed.
Slowdown in Spending Bears More Investigation
The most worrisome aspect of this update is a continued slowdown in activity. At the current rate of spending, HCFCD would spend less than half the money in the bond in the next six years. Remember, we’re four years into a ten-year, $5 billion program. At $20 million per month for the next 60 months, HCFCD would spend only another $1.2 billion. That would cover only about half the projects in the bond.
However, note that in project management, sometimes pauses are built into projects for things such as approvals, right-of-way acquisition, etc. The real question is whether such pauses can explain the current slowdown. HCFCD is investigating to see how much, if any of the slowdown, is planned. More on that next month.
To see the complete bond update, click here.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/12/22
1169 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.