You Don’t Have to Destroy Nature to Profit From It

I smelled it before I could see it. While flying up the San Jacinto West Fork on 6/16/2020, acrid smoke from burning trees filled the air for miles. Then I saw it. The comforting, green blanket of trees that surrounds Houston had another massive gash in it. This is one of the main ways flooding starts. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to destroy nature to profit from it.

Death of a Thousand Cuts

You’ve heard it. A thousand times. “What I do on my property is my own damn business.”

Extrapolate that out a hundred years. Multiply it times millions of people. Before you know it, you have…Houston. And flooding. Often born out of lack of awareness of alternatives.

Start of a new development between FM1314, SH99 and the West Fork, adjacent to Cumberland.
Red marker indicates location of pictures. North is up and FM1314 cuts diagonally through frame on upper right.
The developer had trees lined up like the dead bodies of fallen soldiers on a battlefield.
Perhaps someday, this will be the site of a strip center.
Maybe they will call it Memorial in honor of the silent sentinels that once helped protect this land from erosion and flooding.
It’s easier for contractors to work without trees. But it is possible to work around them.

How Trees Reduce Flooding

Nearby, homes in Cumberland showed that development can co-exist with nature. In fact, people pay a premium to be surrounded by nature.

Google “role of trees in reducing flooding” and you will get 240 million results. Here are some of the main ways.

Trees reduce flooding by:

This page by the EPA contains an excellent summary of the benefits and dozens of documented case histories from all over the county.

Alternatives to Clearcutting

Whole industries are set up around clear cutting. Try to build something someday. Most likely everyone from architects to engineers, land clearing companies, and building contractors will tell you that trees are a nuisance during construction. They say it’s best to get rid of them and replant when you’re done building.

I’m not a professional developer. But I did construct an award-winning office building in the forest without killing everything around me. I even managed to preserve a small patch of wetlands with a seasonal pond on the property. It became the focal point of the main entry. Deer routinely grazed outside my windows. Hawks hunted on the property. Everyone felt connected to nature.

A building that made everyone feel as though they worked in the forest.
Fawn born on RCS lawn, near the red sign above.
Red Tailed Hawk kept rodents away.
The peaceful quiet of a December snow. Can you see the street just 75 feet away?

You Don’t Have to Destroy Nature to Profit From It

The Texas Society of Architects named it one of the top 25 buildings in Texas the year it was built. And the American Institute of Architects gave the building its highest award for Environmental Design. People loved the relaxed atmosphere of working in the building; nature has a soothing quality. My company’s productivity and profits soared. And when it came time to retire, I sold the building for a nice profit that lets me live comfortably.

All it took was a vision and the determination to build a team of contractors who shared it.

These are the kind of stories you don’t hear from people who make their money with bulldozers.

Oh, and by the way. The building never flooded. Never even came close. Nor did anyone ever say that I was making their flooding problems worse.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/27/2020 with thanks to Melton Henry Architects and Crawford Construction

1034 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Triple PG Mine Case Extended While Mysteries at Mine Deepen

Mysteries at the Triple PG mine in Porter are deepening. In the 19 days before I took the pictures below, we got 0.63 inches of rain at the closest official rain gage (East Fork and FM1485). During that time, the temperature soared into the nineties almost every day and wastewater inside the Triple PG mine got lower. One pond has even almost disappeared. Yet, water outside the mine on neighbors’ properties got even higher. I cannot understand how this works.

Mysteries Defy Logic, Explanation

Dr. Guniganti, the cardiologist from Nacogdoches who owns the mine, must be a genius. He’s managed to construct a parallel universe – in Porter of all places. Porter now rivals Roswell and Area 51 as centers of paranormal activity.

In this parallel universe, Dr. Guniganti can make wastewater magically disappear.

Yet in another display of Dr. Guniganti’s magical prowess and beneficence, the good Doctor makes water fall from clear-blue skies to drench his neighbor’s properties free of charge.

No wonder the community has dubbed him, “Guniganti, the Guy Who’s Got It Going.” At first, I thought neighbors bestowed that phrase on Guniganti for his talent to keep trucks running all night long under the cover of darkness…even as he operated under an injunction by the State’s Attorney General.

The Phlegm of Legend

They used to write ballads about immortals like Guniganti. He’s right up there with Pancho Villa, the Mexican general who inked a deal with a Hollywood studio to film his men in battle for 20% of the gross.

Guniganti’s also going for the gold. He will not be outdone by Pancho Villa, Ray or Egon. I can see the headlines already:

  • Sandman Takes on Texas
  • It Ain’t Dumping Unless They Catch You
  • Man Saved by Covid

The last headline refers to the fact that Guniganti’s case was supposed to go to trial this week. But of course, it didn’t due to the pandemic and some last-minute filings. No telling what those last minute filings are; the Travis County Clerk says it may take up to two weeks to email the documents.

Pictures of the Paranormal

In the meantime, here are more pictures of the paranormal.

Notice how low the water is in Triple PG’s main process wastewater pond (blue/green). The blue/green color is likely due to high chloride levels in the waste water or cyanobacteria.
This strip of property adjacent to the mine is owned by other people. Note how high the water is after two weeks of mostly 90 degree days and less than 2/3rds of an inch of rain. It’s a miracle!
Compare the height of ponding water on each side of the road. Water is almost overflowing from the neighbor’s property back into the wastewater pond.
Water in the next pond over is even lower. It’s almost gone. Guniganti appears to be draining the pond in the foreground so that he can “dry mine.” An injunction has idled his dredge. But how did that water get so low? Where did it go? Can Guniganti make water evaporate in different ponds at different rates?
Next to that same pond, by Caney Creek (foreground), a trail of water of various hues leads down from the mine after weeks without rain.

Great Leaping Pond Scum!

Can Guniganti really have the power to make water evaporate from different ponds at different rates? How did water form puddles on the side of that hill? Did water leap out of this mine over the road? Or is Guniganti causing it to flow uphill from Caney Creek using anti-gravity powers?

A former high-level Public Works executive for the City of Houston suggested miners sometimes pump water over the side of their dikes at night.

But I can’t believe an immortal with paranormal powers like Guniganti would need a mechanical assist. Move over Roswell. We need Hollywood to investigate.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/27/2020

1033 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 282 since Imelda

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.

Perry Detention Ponds Pass First Modest Test, But Eroded Badly

The official rain gage at West Lake Houston Parkway and the West Fork San Jacinto recorded 2.32 inches of rain between 7 and 9 a.m. this morning. That was officially a 1-year rain. (See Atlas-14 chart below.) As rains go, it was not a severe test; it was more like a pop quiz.

After the rain subsided, Taylor Gully in Elm Grove was less than half full.

The good news: Taylor Gully was well within its banks and no one in Elm Grove or North Kingwood Forest flooded. The bad news: Perry’s detention ponds experienced severe erosion, enough to warrant repairs and perhaps delay the schedule.

The even worse news: Harris County’s meteorologist, Jeff Lindner predicts another one to two inches of rain tonight with isolated totals of three to four.

West Lake Houston Pkwy. Gage Showed 2.32 Inches In 2 Hours

24 hour rain totals for WLHP gage showed bulk fell in 2 hours.

2.32 inches in two hours qualifies as a one-year rain according to the new Atlas-14 rainfall precipitation frequency estimates. Even if you considered the entire 3.12 inches in 24 hours, it would still only be a one year rain.

Atlas 14 Precipitation Frequency Table for the Kingwood Area.

Aerial Images Show How Perry Detention Ponds Performed

These aerial images taken shortly after noon today when the rain stopped show that:

  • The detention ponds are starting to do their work and hold back water.
  • That kept the level in Taylor Gully manageable
  • The overflow spillway between S2 and the concrete-lined channel was apparently not needed.

However, the images also show that:

  • Portions of the detention pond walls severely eroded and appear to have collapsed in places.
  • The water in the N1 pond overcame temporary dirt barricades sending water and silt down to N2.
  • The newly excavated N2 was entirely covered with water for the first time. It also received a significant amount of erosion.
  • N3 merges with Taylor Gully to form one large detention pond that holds water all the way from the northern end of the pond to the county line.
  • Rain has halted construction for the last two days and could delay it into next week.
Expanded, giant N2 detention pond was covered entirely with water for first time. Looking West toward western border of Woodridge Village.
However, erosion re-deposited large amounts of soil within the pond. Looking North along Western Border of Woodridge Village.
Rainwater entering the site from Joseph street in Porter (center left) shows by comparison how much silt the Perry water held. Looking north along western border of Woodridge Village.
Still looking north, but farther up western border, you can see silt slumping into ditch.
Looking SE toward Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest from the NW corner of site. Water coming in N1 pond from left exited right, down the western border. Water washed out a temporary dirt barrier that appeared designed to hold water in the pond.
Looking east. Note erosion from former utility corridor on left that has turned into a new drainage ditch along northern edge of property.
Looking at western wall of N3 which runs along eastern border of Woodridge Village.
Another portion of the western wall of N3 shows severe erosion.
Standing water from rest of property is slowly making its way into detention ponds.
Looking South along eastern border toward Taylor Gully. At present, N3 (bottom left) simply merges with the concrete channel by S2 (top right). It appears to have nothing to control the outflow.
Looking north along eastern border. Silt fences prove inadequate at stopping erosion. In fact, most of site has no silt fences.

More Rain Likely Tonight

Jeff Lindner, Harris County meteorologist, says that today’s wet pattern should remain in place through the weekend, contrary to earlier predictions that saw rain chances ending by Friday.

Storms currently in the Gulf near Corpus Christi are tracking toward Houston late tonight and Friday morning. They will probably not be as severe as this morning’s storms. With that said…the air mass remains tropical over the region and excessive rainfall rates of 2-3 inches per hour will be possible, warns Lindner.

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service decided NOT to issue another flash flood watch for tonight, but stay alert to see if a more significant threat may develop.

Expect rainfall amounts of generally 1-2 inches tonight with isolated totals of 3-4 inches.

To Get Up-to-the-Minute Forecasts and Stream Alerts

You can always find up to the minute weather forecasts at this National Weather Service page.

To check on rising rivers and major streams, visit the Harris County Flood Warning System, and click on channels and channel status simultaneously. To see further upstream, click on All Gages. That will show you the status of gages operated by the SJRA in Montgomery County.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/25/2020

1031 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 280 since Imelda

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.