Sprint Sand & Clay, the company hired by Harris County Flood Control to excavate 500,000 cubic yards of dirt from Woodridge Village, began hauling some of it to the controversial Laurel Springs RV Resort near Lakewood Cove this morning.
Wake-Up Calls
My phone started blowing up before breakfast with dozens of complaints about Sprint truck traffic. So, I began investigating. I first went to the Woodridge Village site. Drone photos and on-the-ground observations revealed that Sprint was indeed hauling dirt from the Woodridge Village excavation site.
SW corner of Woodridge Village taken Wednesday 2.9.22. Sprint trucks line up to haul off dirt.
I followed one of the trucks all the way to Laurel Springs Lane where I observed it dumping its load. Along the way and at each end, I saw many more Sprint trucks – up to four at a time. There was a veritable parade of dump trucks making round trips along Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood Drive, Chestnut Ridge, and Laurel Springs Lane.
Orange truck from above enters RV site several minutes later and turns toward detention pond.The orange truck dumps its load just north of the pond near an area marked as the 500-year floodplain. Other equipment spreads it out.
Will Storm Drains Be Adequate?
Sprint trucks had also dumped dirt near a new “north entrance” to the site.
In the shot above, note the ponding water from 0.2 inches of rain more than a week ago. The contractor’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan describes this soil as “silty sand” to a depth of 18 inches (Page 18).
They may want to recheck that before installing more storm drains.
Other Issues Noted Today
Most trucks that I observed used what has now become the “south” entrance. The fresh load of bullrock laid down days ago has already been covered with mud. That accounts for all the dirt tracked into the street. While the storm sewers were still unprotected from dirt, at least a street sweeper was onsite today.Another unprotected storm sewer and contractor taking water from City fire hydrant. Photo courtesy of Robin Seydewitz.All the dump trucks I observed were this large size, not the kind that holds 10 cubic yards.
Good News/Bad News
The start of serious excavation at Woodridge Village comes as welcome news to the people of Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest who flooded twice in 2019. However, it’s equally worrisome to the people of Forest Cove and Lakewood Cove. Many expressed concerns about potential flooding.
Risks from Building Up Land
Should existing residents be concerned about that? Yes, was the answer I got from one respected hydrologist who spoke on condition of anonymity. He likened the built-up area to a berm and said that “You don’t want a berm to stop overland sheet flow.”
The elevation survey shown below comes from the RV park’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. It shows that the land naturally slopes from northeast to southwest. Building up the RV property would definitely prevent water from the NE from flowing in that direction. Sheet flow would divert south along Laurel Springs and put an evacuation route at risk.
Survey shown in developer’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan shows elevation going from 83.1 in the NE to 61.4 in the SW, a difference of more than 20 feet.
East to west along the southern boundary, the elevation drops from 67 feet at Laurel Springs to 61 feet near the railroad tracks.
Another risk is that sheet flow with nowhere else to go could back up Lakewood Cove storm sewers at the same time that the RV park is trying to pump water into them to compensate for its undersized detention pond.
If someone sustains water damage on their property due to a neighbor’s property, questions as to who may be liable may arise. Surface water runoff — most often caused by excess rainwater — is the common culprit. Texas law holds landowners responsible for damage to neighboring property due to diversion of surface water.
I received a copy of the RV Park’s SWPPP plan today from the TCEQ. Parts of it made me laugh out loud. For instance, the section about “Receiving Waters, Wetlands and Special Aquatic Sites” said:
“No existing wetlands or other special aquatic sites have been identified at or near this site [Emphasis added].”
Page 18 of Laurel Springs RV Park SWPPP prepared by Construction Eco Services
Obviously, they didn’t glance across the southern property line or consult the National Wetlands Database. I can’t wait to read the rest of this plan to uncover more gems.
From US Fish & Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory Mapper. The RV Park is going in just above the large green area labelled PF01A Future Edgewater Park.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/9/22
1625 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20220209-DJI_0838-e1644458655903.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-02-09 20:26:572022-02-09 23:01:35Dirt Excavated from Woodridge Being Used to Build Up Laurel Springs RV Resort
Tonight, members of the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force will vote whether and/or how to recommend changes to the equity funding formula for the third time in three years. On the table for discussion: partnership dollars.
One of the proposals under consideration is NOT to consider potential partnership funding. Said another way, taxpayers would pay for projects out of pocket rather than wait for federal and state dollars to filter down to the county level.
The main argument FOR this? Low-to-moderate income neighborhoods would not have to wait for HUD or FEMA dollars to begin construction.
The main argument AGAINST? Partnership dollars have funded roughly one-third of all flood-mitigation projects in Harris County since 2000.
So saying that you’ll bypass partnership dollars could eliminate one third of all flood-mitigation funding unless you want to increase taxes.
A highly publicized setback in the Texas GLO competition for HUD funds last year delayed a recommended $750 million award to Harris County. The delay hurt, but there’s still hope. HUD did not reject the GLO application. They just said they needed additional documentation. The two agencies have met several times since. GLO has already started reformulating its proposal and expects a decision as early as next month.
Should We Turn Our Back on Hundreds of Millions?
So should the plan now be to turn our noses up at the $1.15 billion that the county has received in partnership dollars since 2000. Should we say, “Let’s go it alone!” from now on? Should we stand by while that money goes to other areas that need it less?
LMI Neighborhoods Would Be Hurt the Most
Another argument proposed for ignoring the partnership funding: it disadvantages LMI neighborhoods because affluent neighborhoods have higher home values and therefore get higher Benefit Cost Ratios.
$797.4 million out of $1.149 billion in total partnership funds went to LMI watersheds. Percentages just happen to equal those in graph above.
While the logic sounds plausible, the only problem is that the eight LMI watersheds in Harris County (those where a majority of residents make below the average income for the region) actually receive 69% of all grants. Since 2000, they have received $797 million out of $1,149 million. So one third of the watersheds received more than two-thirds of all partnership funding.
That closely reflects the percentage of all spending (local + partnership) since 2000. The eight LMI watersheds received $2.3 billion out of $3.7 billion – 62%. Harris County has 23 watersheds in total.
The data clearly does not support discrimination against LMI neighborhoods in either partnership or overall spending. Greens Bayou for instance has received more money overall ($436 million) than all but three other watersheds since 2000. It also ranks #3 in partnership funding with $200 million. Partner dollars paid for 46% of the projects there.
Placing a Third of All Projects in Jeopardy
Eliminating partnership funds and relying on local funds will disadvantage Harris County taxpayers everywhere or cause a third of projects to be eliminated.
Date of Damage Assessments, Mitigation Also Crucial
Partnership funds can make a huge difference in watersheds in terms of flood reduction. Sims Bayou was the only bayou in Harris County that didn’t flood during Harvey. Of the $201 million it received in partnership funds since 2000, $198 million came before Harvey.
Sims also illustrates the problem with another proposal on the table tonight – using flood data going back to 1977 to determine who deserves more money. That will artificially disadvantage outlying neighborhoods which didn’t even exist in 1977. And it will funnel money into a watershed that has already largely been remediated.
When people come at these decisions from an ideological perspective without looking at data, it hurts everyone…sometimes even themselves.
My personal opinion is that when people talk about partnership funding, the debate should be, “When do you go it alone?” not “Should we go it alone?”
Students represent our future. What we teach them and how well we teach them affects the quality of our communities for the next generation. I closed yesterday’s post with a note about a detention pond at the new Kingwood Middle School. Their simple little pond can provide so many opportunities for learning.
The same is true of New Caney ISD’s West Fork High School, now under construction on Sorters-McClellan Road south of Kingwood Drive. Perhaps this provides even more opportunities for learning because it’s so much closer to a major source of flooding.
Here are pictures taken last week that show the location and status of construction. I begin with an unusual choice: the campus detention pond. The reason why will become clear below.
Photos Taken 1/29/22
This giant detention pond was the first thing built on the site. Notice the 59 Bridge over the San Jacinto West Fork in the upper right. Also notice the expansion of Sorters-McClellan road to handle the expected traffic.A shot from slightly higher and a little down the road clearly shows wetlands, ponds, the West Fork and its confluence with Spring Creek.Looking S at the confluence of West Fork (bottom) and Spring Creek (right). That large island first appears in Google Earth Pro as a tiny sliver of sand at the end of 2018. It has grown to its present size since then.Looking north at entire 50-acre campus. The detention pond comprises about 10% of that. Athletic facilities at West Fork High School including field house. Note US59, Insperity and Kingwood HCA Medical Center in upper right.Looking NW toward Sorters-McClellan Road and several West Fork Sand mines in background. Kingwood Place Drive has been extended south to provide another way to get into and out of the campus.Looking SW.The campus is built around a large central courtyard that will become its signature feature. But I wonder how 17 inches of rain will get out of there in a 100-year storm.Main entrance on Sorters-McClellan Road.Looking SE.
Lessons to Be Learned
Students always have more interest in learning things that relate to their personal lives. They explore those things deeper, learn them faster and retain them longer. Flooding has impacted thousands of students in this area. If they weren’t directly flooded during Harvey, chances are they know someone who was.
Right outside the high school, teachers now have real-world classroom to teach students about flooding.
How do compaction and impervious cover affect the rate of rainfall infiltration?
How does that affect the time of concentration of runoff?
How does that affect flood height?
What’s the mathematical relationship between the size of the pond and the amount of impervious cover added to the campus?
How do detention ponds work and how does that affect the time of concentration?
How will the campus detention pond affect people downstream?
Why doesn’t every new development have detention ponds?
What State, County and Local regulations affect the development of detention ponds and their capacity?
What is meant by externalizing a business’ costs?
How would downstream taxpayers be affected if this detention pond were not built?
What would happen to their flood insurance costs?
What is flood insurance?
Who should get flood insurance and why?
Does the cost of flood insurance affect low-income families more than high-income families?
Is that fair?
Should we have a state law or regional flood-control district mandating detention pond capacity requirements?
How do we change laws?
What does caveat emptor mean?
This can not only be a math lesson, it can be a civics/government lesson, a geography lesson, a science lesson, an engineering lesson, an environmental lesson and more.
Why So Important?
Susanne Kite, a reader of yesterday’s post, commented, “Kids and young people should learn these things so they can make smart choices in life!! And so they won’t be surprised when they start growing web feet.” I would add, “So they won’t be surprised when they buy a home!”
After kids explore answers to all the questions above, they need to find answers to an even bigger question. “How can we all live together?”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/7/22
1623 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20220129-DJI_0635.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-02-07 15:07:552022-02-07 16:50:31West Fork High School: Another Opportunity for Learning
Dirt Excavated from Woodridge Being Used to Build Up Laurel Springs RV Resort
Sprint Sand & Clay, the company hired by Harris County Flood Control to excavate 500,000 cubic yards of dirt from Woodridge Village, began hauling some of it to the controversial Laurel Springs RV Resort near Lakewood Cove this morning.
Wake-Up Calls
My phone started blowing up before breakfast with dozens of complaints about Sprint truck traffic. So, I began investigating. I first went to the Woodridge Village site. Drone photos and on-the-ground observations revealed that Sprint was indeed hauling dirt from the Woodridge Village excavation site.
I followed one of the trucks all the way to Laurel Springs Lane where I observed it dumping its load. Along the way and at each end, I saw many more Sprint trucks – up to four at a time. There was a veritable parade of dump trucks making round trips along Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood Drive, Chestnut Ridge, and Laurel Springs Lane.
Will Storm Drains Be Adequate?
In the shot above, note the ponding water from 0.2 inches of rain more than a week ago. The contractor’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan describes this soil as “silty sand” to a depth of 18 inches (Page 18).
They may want to recheck that before installing more storm drains.
Other Issues Noted Today
Good News/Bad News
The start of serious excavation at Woodridge Village comes as welcome news to the people of Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest who flooded twice in 2019. However, it’s equally worrisome to the people of Forest Cove and Lakewood Cove. Many expressed concerns about potential flooding.
Risks from Building Up Land
Should existing residents be concerned about that? Yes, was the answer I got from one respected hydrologist who spoke on condition of anonymity. He likened the built-up area to a berm and said that “You don’t want a berm to stop overland sheet flow.”
The elevation survey shown below comes from the RV park’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. It shows that the land naturally slopes from northeast to southwest. Building up the RV property would definitely prevent water from the NE from flowing in that direction. Sheet flow would divert south along Laurel Springs and put an evacuation route at risk.
East to west along the southern boundary, the elevation drops from 67 feet at Laurel Springs to 61 feet near the railroad tracks.
Another risk is that sheet flow with nowhere else to go could back up Lakewood Cove storm sewers at the same time that the RV park is trying to pump water into them to compensate for its undersized detention pond.
Texas Water Code
Chapter 11.086 of the Texas Water Code covers situations like these.
If someone sustains water damage on their property due to a neighbor’s property, questions as to who may be liable may arise. Surface water runoff — most often caused by excess rainwater — is the common culprit. Texas law holds landowners responsible for damage to neighboring property due to diversion of surface water.
If you find the legal wording in the water code difficult to understand, visit this Texas State Law Library page for resources written in plainer English.
SWPPP Plan Good for Laugh-Out-Loud Moment
I received a copy of the RV Park’s SWPPP plan today from the TCEQ. Parts of it made me laugh out loud. For instance, the section about “Receiving Waters, Wetlands and Special Aquatic Sites” said:
Obviously, they didn’t glance across the southern property line or consult the National Wetlands Database. I can’t wait to read the rest of this plan to uncover more gems.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/9/22
1625 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Making Informed Flood-Mitigation Funding Decisions: Partnership Dollars
Tonight, members of the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force will vote whether and/or how to recommend changes to the equity funding formula for the third time in three years. On the table for discussion: partnership dollars.
One of the proposals under consideration is NOT to consider potential partnership funding. Said another way, taxpayers would pay for projects out of pocket rather than wait for federal and state dollars to filter down to the county level.
The main argument FOR this? Low-to-moderate income neighborhoods would not have to wait for HUD or FEMA dollars to begin construction.
So saying that you’ll bypass partnership dollars could eliminate one third of all flood-mitigation funding unless you want to increase taxes.
Definition of Leverage
Partnership funding is the definition of leverage. A good example: last year, the county obtained $250 million for sediment removal in eight watersheds while putting up only $6.25 million. In that case, FEMA paid for most of the construction and the State (Texas Division of Emergency Management) paid for most of the local match.
Latest on HUD Money
A highly publicized setback in the Texas GLO competition for HUD funds last year delayed a recommended $750 million award to Harris County. The delay hurt, but there’s still hope. HUD did not reject the GLO application. They just said they needed additional documentation. The two agencies have met several times since. GLO has already started reformulating its proposal and expects a decision as early as next month.
Should We Turn Our Back on Hundreds of Millions?
So should the plan now be to turn our noses up at the $1.15 billion that the county has received in partnership dollars since 2000. Should we say, “Let’s go it alone!” from now on? Should we stand by while that money goes to other areas that need it less?
LMI Neighborhoods Would Be Hurt the Most
Another argument proposed for ignoring the partnership funding: it disadvantages LMI neighborhoods because affluent neighborhoods have higher home values and therefore get higher Benefit Cost Ratios.
While the logic sounds plausible, the only problem is that the eight LMI watersheds in Harris County (those where a majority of residents make below the average income for the region) actually receive 69% of all grants. Since 2000, they have received $797 million out of $1,149 million. So one third of the watersheds received more than two-thirds of all partnership funding.
That closely reflects the percentage of all spending (local + partnership) since 2000. The eight LMI watersheds received $2.3 billion out of $3.7 billion – 62%. Harris County has 23 watersheds in total.
The data clearly does not support discrimination against LMI neighborhoods in either partnership or overall spending. Greens Bayou for instance has received more money overall ($436 million) than all but three other watersheds since 2000. It also ranks #3 in partnership funding with $200 million. Partner dollars paid for 46% of the projects there.
Placing a Third of All Projects in Jeopardy
Eliminating partnership funds and relying on local funds will disadvantage Harris County taxpayers everywhere or cause a third of projects to be eliminated.
Date of Damage Assessments, Mitigation Also Crucial
Partnership funds can make a huge difference in watersheds in terms of flood reduction. Sims Bayou was the only bayou in Harris County that didn’t flood during Harvey. Of the $201 million it received in partnership funds since 2000, $198 million came before Harvey.
Sims also illustrates the problem with another proposal on the table tonight – using flood data going back to 1977 to determine who deserves more money. That will artificially disadvantage outlying neighborhoods which didn’t even exist in 1977. And it will funnel money into a watershed that has already largely been remediated.
When people come at these decisions from an ideological perspective without looking at data, it hurts everyone…sometimes even themselves.
My personal opinion is that when people talk about partnership funding, the debate should be, “When do you go it alone?” not “Should we go it alone?”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/8/2022
1624 Days since Hurricane Harvey
West Fork High School: Another Opportunity for Learning
Students represent our future. What we teach them and how well we teach them affects the quality of our communities for the next generation. I closed yesterday’s post with a note about a detention pond at the new Kingwood Middle School. Their simple little pond can provide so many opportunities for learning.
The same is true of New Caney ISD’s West Fork High School, now under construction on Sorters-McClellan Road south of Kingwood Drive. Perhaps this provides even more opportunities for learning because it’s so much closer to a major source of flooding.
Here are pictures taken last week that show the location and status of construction. I begin with an unusual choice: the campus detention pond. The reason why will become clear below.
Photos Taken 1/29/22
Lessons to Be Learned
Students always have more interest in learning things that relate to their personal lives. They explore those things deeper, learn them faster and retain them longer. Flooding has impacted thousands of students in this area. If they weren’t directly flooded during Harvey, chances are they know someone who was.
Right outside the high school, teachers now have real-world classroom to teach students about flooding.
This can not only be a math lesson, it can be a civics/government lesson, a geography lesson, a science lesson, an engineering lesson, an environmental lesson and more.
Why So Important?
Susanne Kite, a reader of yesterday’s post, commented, “Kids and young people should learn these things so they can make smart choices in life!! And so they won’t be surprised when they start growing web feet.” I would add, “So they won’t be surprised when they buy a home!”
After kids explore answers to all the questions above, they need to find answers to an even bigger question. “How can we all live together?”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/7/22
1623 Days since Hurricane Harvey