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Tuesday AM Rain Outlook: Heating Up, Flash Flood Watch Remains in Effect

A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect through Thursday morning.

A serious flash flood threat remains in place over all of SE TX and much of eastern TX into Thursday.

According to Harris County Meteorologist Jeff Lindner, “After the storms from yesterday, deeper moisture has been pushed toward the coastline and offshore, but will rapidly return today.

A slow moving line of thunderstorms moved through the area on Monday producing generally 1 to 4 inches of rain across the area with localized areas of 6 to 8 inches in Liberty, eastern Montgomery, and northeastern Harris County.

The National Weather Service says that a lull in the precipitation occurred overnight, but the chance for heavy rainfall returns this morning as an upper level disturbance moves through the area. An additional 1 to 3 inches of rain with locally higher totals will be possible today. A stronger upper level disturbance will bring yet another round of heavy rain Wednesday into Thursday with additional rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches of rain with again locally higher totals possible. Storm total rainfall by Thursday morning will average between 4 and 8 inches with isolated totals possibly exceeding 10 inches. The flood threat will be strongly dependent on where the rain falls and how quickly it falls.

Today-Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop with heating today. But it continues to be hard to pinpoint where storms may develop. By this afternoon, storms will likely begin to approach southeast Texas from the west and northwest. They may also possibly approach again from the northeast or north into the evening and overnight hours. See the satellite photo below.

*Satellite image as of about 8 a.m. Houston time this morning.*

Wednesday-Early Thursday

An upper level trough will transport extreme moisture into the region along with the jet stream. Models many possible scenarios from slow moving lines to quickly approaching complexes from the west. Regardless, the overall pattern favors heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and severe weather.

Rainfall Amounts

Lindner expects additional rainfall totals of 4-6 inches over the next 48 hours with isolated totals of 10-12 inches. Much of what falls is going to come in short intense bursts of rainfall, he says, and not spread out evenly over time.

The National Weather Service gives our eastern and northern counties a moderate risk of flash flooding today. The risk area should enlarge tomorrow across the entire region.

*Excessive rainfall outlook for Wednesday and Thursday.*

The orange areas indicate moderate risk. That means a 20-50% chance of excessive rainfall.

River, Stream Report

Run-off continues across the region this morning from the heavy rainfall yesterday. Cedar Bayou upstream of US 90 remains high, but has crested and is slowly falling. Spring Creek is rising as upstream run-off from northern Waller County moves into the mainstem of the creek. Not flooding is expected, but the creek will be elevated through the day. West Fork of the San Jacinto River is rising due to inflow from Spring and Cypress Creeks and will crest later this morning.

Both the SJRA and Coastal Water Authority are releasing water from Lake Conroe and Lake Houston preemptively. However, both lakes remain a few inches above their normal levels at the moment.

Additional rainfall over the next few days will quickly run-off resulting in new rises on area creeks, bayous, and rivers. Some flooding of creeks, bayous, and rivers will be possible.

Forecasted Rainfall Next 72 Hours

*Predicted accumulations through Friday. Source: National Weather Service*

Photo of White Oak Creek from Yesterday

*White Oak Creek yesterday flowing near the Woodstream home of Donald and Kristi Brown on Brook Shore Court after a 5.5-inch rain fell on most of Kingwood.*

As I write this, the rain has started already this morning. Let’s hope the rain is spread out enough that the creeks can handle it. As predicted, so far it’s coming down in sporadic bursts mixed with light drizzle.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/18/2021 based on information provided by the NWS, HCFCD, and Donald Brown

1358 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Street Flooding Rampant Throughout Kingwood, Streams Near Capacity

Had Harris County Flood Control not recently excavated parts of Bens Branch and Taylor Gully, both streams would have likely come out of their banks today. The skies opened up and dumped 4.98 inches on my rain gage in a little more than two hours. That’s about a 10-year rain according to the new Atlas 14 statistics below.

*Atlas 14 Rainfall Statistics for the Kingwood Area.*

Photos from Around Kingwood

At 5 pm both streams were near the tops of their banks but well within them. That might not have been the case just a couple months ago before the flood control district widened and deepened them to restore their original conveyance. Parts of Ben’s Branch were down to a two year level of service. That’s means they would flood in a two-year rain…obviously less than today’s.

*Bens Branch at Kingwood Drive at approximately 5pm on 5/17/2021* *after receiving 4.88 inches of rain in about 2 hours.*

Taylor Gully at approximately same time taken from the Maple Bend Bridge in Woodstream Forest. Photo by Nicole Black-Rudolph. Finished in the nick of time. Note the construction equipment still in the right corner of the frame.

*Photo by Jeff Miller around same time. This shows Taylor Gully at the bridge over Rustic Elms*, *farther upstream toward Woodridge Village.*

Video by Paul Campbell at approximately 3pm on 5/17/21. Shows the level of Ben’s Branch behind his apartment in Kingwood Town Center, also recently excavated by HCFCD.

*Street flooding on West Lake Houston Parkway near Kingwood Drive at 5pm. I saw scenes like this all over Kingwood this afternoon while trying to return from a lunch in the Woodlands.*

Forecast for Remainder of Evening

As of 5:30 pm, Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist said, “Heavy rainfall continues to progress WSW across the area while a second area of heavy rainfall is moving SE across western Montgomery, N Waller, and NW Harris County. This area to the northwest is the remains of a line of thunderstorms from central Texas.”

“Rainfall amounts have averaged 2-3 inches over the northern half of Harris County with 4-6 inches over the Humble, Kingwood, Crosby, and Huffman areas,” said Lindner. “Significant street flooding has occurred over the northeast and northern portions of the county into Liberty and Montgomery Counties. While the activity is continuing to progress through the area, recent radar and HCFCD gage rainfall sensors indicate the hourly rainfall rates have weakened into the .50-1.5 inch range which is significantly lower than the 3-4 inches per hour recorded earlier this afternoon.”

“Street flooding will continue into the early evening hours and slowly subside over the area, while creeks and bayous continue to respond to the heavy rainfall. At this time all creeks and bayous are well within banks.”

More Yet to Come

Heavy rainfalls like this afternoon’s should continue through Thursday when the chances start to diminish through the weekend. Runoff should increase as grounds are now thoroughly saturated. Stay cautious. I almost drove into the water that rose to the bumper of that semi above. It didn’t look that deep but obviously could have stalled my Tahoe. Remember, if water gets over your tailpipe, it will cause your engine to stall. Game over.

Posted by Bob Rehak on May 17, 2021 based on personal observation and information supplied by HCFCD, Jeff Miller, Paul Campbell, and Nicole Black-Rudolph

1357 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Monday AM: All SE Texas Now Under Moderate Risk for Flash Flooding This Week

The National Weather Service has produced a 3-day excessive rainfall map that show all of SE Texas under a moderate risk for flash flooding this week. “Moderate” means we have a 20-50% chance of exceeding flash-flooding guidance. Flash flooding occurs when short-duration, high-intensity rains exceed the drainage capacity in areas.

*Issued Monday at 3AM Houston time by the National Weather Service.*

Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist, sees heavy rainfall and flash flood threats increasing through the week. “A flash flood watch will likely be required for portions of the area later today,” he said.

Chance of Thunderstorms 70% and Increasing

The National Weather Service predicts a 70% chance of thunderstorms for the Lake Houston Area through Tuesday night. The chance increases to 80% for Wednesday and Thurday. The chances decrease to 70% for Friday, 60% for Saturday and 40% for Sunday.

It is difficult to predict exact amounts of rainfall for any specific location, such as Lake Houston, that far in advance. However, conditions are in place to produce heavy rainfall. The main threat for today is slow moving storms that could produce street flooding this afternoon. But chances increase tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday.

“This pattern will support heavy rainfall and flash flooding especially during the mid-week period. But really every day this week has potential,” says Lindner.

Space City Weather likens the conditions in place to those that produced the May 2019 floods in Kingwood.

Rainfall Amounts

Since yesterday, there has been no change. Models suggest a fairly high limit on potential totals. “As seen yesterday, this air mass is capable of excessive short term rainfall amounts. Widespread amounts of 4-8 inches will be likely over much of the area over the next 5 days with isolated totals of 10-12 inches or more. Short duration rainfall rates of 2-4 inches per hour will be possible leading to rapid urban flash flooding,” says Lindner.

Grounds in the Houston area are already wet and water supply lakes near full capacity. As of this morning, the City has started lowering Lake Houston by one foot. The SJRA is not releasing water from Lake Conroe.

*From SJRA.net as of Monday 5/17/21 at 9am.*

Lindner says that rises on area watersheds are likely given the widespread nature of this event. “It is certainly possible some watersheds will experience flooding at some point this week. Which watersheds potentially get hit the hardest remains uncertain…but the risk for flooding will be increasing,” he says.

Posted by Bob Rehak on Monday morning at 9 am, 5/17/21 based on information by HCFCD, NWS, and Space City Weather

1357 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Wharton County Receives 13.47 Inches So Far Today

Rain is winding down for today, but areas southwest of Houston along US59 received massive amounts today. Ganado in Wharton County reported 13.47 inches at one gage and 10.87 inches at another. Radar totals indicated 10-14 inches…much of that falling in a 4-6 hour period. According to Atlas 14, that’s a 100- to 200-year rain.

*Atlas 14 Rainfall Frequency Chart for this area*.

A Portent of Rainfall to Come

“This shows the capability of the air mass we will be dealing with nearly all week,” said Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist. “Expect additional “big totals” over parts of the area through the week.”

Ganado is on US 59 between Victoria and El Campo in Wharton County, southwest of Houston.

Heaviest Rains Spreading Toward Houston Later This Week

The threat of heavy to excessive rainfall will continue for the next several days and spread northeast into the Houston area. The threat of flooding and flash flooding will increase during that time, according to Lindner’s Sunday afternoon update.

Lindner predicts that we should get a break tonight, but another wave approaches on Monday late morning into the afternoon. Expect another flare up of showers and thunderstorms. “We will likely see another break on Monday night and then additional showers and storms on Tuesday,” he says.

Wednesday-Thursday

Lindner is most concerned about Wednesday into Thursday. Another tropical air mass from the Bay of Campeche will surge into our area. Upper level winds will help lift the surface moisture into thunderstorms. Training of storms from SSW to NNE looks increasingly likely. “Potential formation of a coastal trough or weak surface low near the lower Texas coast will only help to further promote rainfall.” Given the fact that we’re still talking about forecasts three or four days out, Lindner doesn’t want to get too aggressive with rainfall total predictions just yet. But he says that models show an overall pattern favoring heavy rainfall and flash flooding.

Rainfall Amounts

Additional rainfall amounts on top of what has already fallen will average 4-8 inches over the region with isolated totals of 10-15 inches certainly possible. The expected widespread nature of the rainfall along with potential high hourly rainfall rates of 2-4 inches support rapid onset flash flooding and rises on area watersheds especially our river system as rainfall totals pile up over time. Creeks and bayous in urban areas will tend to respond to the short duration higher rainfall rates and will need to be monitored closely.

*NWS estimate of 5-day cumulative rainfall (as of Sunday afternoon, May 16*) *has increased since this morning.*

Make sure you bookmark this page and consult it frequently throughout the week: Harris County Flood Warning System.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/16/2021 at 6PM based on information from NWS, HCFCD, and Space City Weather.

1356 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Wet Week Coming: 4-6 Inches Likely for Region, 8-10 Possible

Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist is predicting a wet week ahead for southeast Texas with frequent rounds of thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. He also predicts flooding and flash flood threats that will increase throughout the week.

*National Weather Service 5-Day forecasted rainfall amounts as of Sunday morning.*

Upper Level Disturbances Meet Tropical Moisture Inflow

Says Lindner, “A short wave is approaching the area this morning. Numerous showers and thunderstorms will develop over the area and continue through the day. Storms have already anchored over portions of Matagorda into Jackson Counties this morning. Flash flood warnings are currently in effect for that area and this will be the story this week.”

An upper level storm system over the southwest will eject several disturbances across Texas this week, according to Lindner. These disturbances will interact with a near constant flow of tropical moisture off the Gulf of Mexico to produce rounds of storms and heavy rainfall with each disturbance. Humidity levels throughout the Houston region range from 70% to above 90%.

Given the feed of moisture, the potential for slow moving and training storms, and high moisture levels, heavy to excessive rainfall will be possible.
Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist

Expect Heavy Rain Through End of Week

Heavy rain is likely from today through the end of the week. While it will not rain the entire time, there will be several rounds. Grounds will saturate and run-off will increase during the wet week ahead.

Today’s concern: slow storm motions currently being seen southwest of the city. Such storm motions and rainfall rates over urban areas could quickly lead to street flooding.

Main concern: Wednesday and Thursday. The main upper-level storm will move into Texas. Southeast Texas will develop very favorable conditions for rainfall. A steady stream of moisture and strongly divergent winds aloft will support training of lines and clusters of thunderstorms. However…

…There could be flooding and heavy rainfall at nearly any time from today through Friday.
Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist

Rainfall Amounts

Lindner thinks rainfall totals over the next 5 days will likely average 4-6 inches over the region with isolated amounts of 8-10 inches. Hourly rainfall rates of 1-3 inches will be possible under stronger storms. Rises on area rivers will certainly be possible given the widespread nature of this event along with the multiple rounds of heavy rainfall. While totals will be spread out some over time, the concern of short term excessive rainfall rates resulting in flash flooding is possible in this pattern. Get out the galoshes. It’s going to be a wet week ahead.

Lake Report

At this hour, Lake Conroe is not releasing water and the lake is at its normal level of 201 feet above sea level.

From SJRA Dashboard (10am Sunday morning, May 16, 2021)

*From https://www.coastalwaterauthority.org*

This could get interesting. Lake Conroe is full and if you look closely at the rainfall map above, you will see that the NWS is predicting some of the heaviest rainfall for our area to be upstream from Lake Conroe.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/16/2021

1356 Days since Harvey

Where Will Tomorrow’s Sand Come From?

Even though sand can be found in nearly every single country on Earth, the world could soon face a shortage. Usage around the world has tripled in the last twenty years, according to the United Nations Environment Program. That’s far greater than the rate at which sand is being replenished.

After water, sand is the second most used commodity on earth. It’s used in concrete, glass, computer chips, computer screens, tile, and more. When you look at deserts and oceans, you may think we have an infinite supply. But we don’t. According to this ten-minute video produced by CNBC, we’re using it faster than Mother Nature is creating it.

Seems Infinite But Isn’t

And not all types of sand are suited for all uses. Desert sand, for instance, is windblown and round. That makes it unsuitable for concrete. For strength, concrete requires the more angular type found near and in rivers.

*One small part of the massive Hallett sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork*

A Short Course on Sand

If you want to understand more, I highly recommend this video produced by CNBC. It’s short – only about 10 minutes. But it’s packed with information that puts production, consumption, and environmental tradeoffs in perspective.

*To see this video, click here or on the image above.*

For instance, do you know how the “tragedy of the commons” can ultimately lead to the collapse of environments?

The video is filled with facts and answers that you can use to amaze friends and family.

Did you know that China used more sand in the last three years than the US did in the last century?
How much sand does it take to produce concrete?
Where will it come from in the future?
What impact will the massive infrastructure bill now pending in Congress have on sand production and therefore the environment?

This video will answer all those questions and more. I highly recommend it.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/14/2021 based on a tip from Chris Manthei

1354 Days after Hurricane Harvey

City of Houston Seeks Proposals for Planning Lily Pads

Could you design a neighborhood center with the resources people need in floods and other emergencies? Could you develop a plan to implement a network of them throughout the City of Houston? If so, then maybe this is for you. The City seeks vendors to help it develop a network of “lily pads” that can act as refuges during emergencies.

Seniors at Kingwood Village Estates trying to evacuate to higher ground during Harvey when floodwaters rose in the middle of the night. Twelve people died: six from injuries sustained during evacuation and six from the heartbreak of seeing their condos destroyed.

Preparing for Emergencies

The City’s first resilience effort was somewhat of a utopian effort. It focused on helping people thrive after floods, not eliminating flooding. This one looks to gain more traction. It will take survival planning down to the neighborhood level and help people dislocated during adverse events such as Hurricane Harvey.

During Harvey, churches, schools, libraries, and businesses became gathering centers. However, many of these spaces were not equipped to serve as temporary shelters. The City seeks to identify and develop a network of unflooded spaces that can become locations for individuals to obtain basic needs, assistance, and recovery resources during floods, heat events, or air quality emergencies. They will become “lilly pads” that help the City distribute food and emergency supplies, telecommunications access, and federal assistance guidance. These spaces will also become gathering centers for the dissemination of relief and recovery for individuals.

Citizen Led, Government Supported

Instead of being led by local government, lily pads are intended to be supported by local government. Community members, community-based organizations, and/or faith-based groups will lead and manage them.

The City hopes such lily pads will help prepare for future disruptions and disasters. The request for proposals states, “For Houston to become more resilient, we must be able to adapt to future risks from chronic stresses such as addressing environmental justice issues and acute shocks including: extreme heat, poor air quality, flooding, hurricanes, and public health emergencies.”

Emphasis on Social Vulnerability

The selection of the strategic location and design elements of each Lily Pad will include social vulnerability and “equity.” The City intends to use these criteria to ensure locations benefit the most vulnerable and disproportionately affected populations. Social vulnerability and equity will also be taken into consideration when developing the lily pad master plan, toolkit and pilot project.

If you work for a company that does this sort of planning, consider responding to the RFP. It certainly sounds like a worthwhile effort as far as it goes. Personally, though, I think anyone rescued half naked from 20 mph floodwaters in the middle of the night deserves help.

You can find additional documents here on the City’s bid website. The City will hold a pre-proposal bid conference on May 26. The bid deadline is June 10.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2021 with thanks to Carla Alvarez for the heads up

1353 Days since Hurricane Harvey

NOAA Adopts New Normal: Hotter, Wetter

NOAA has updated its climate statistics for the U.S. Every 10 years, the agency comes up with a “new normal” based on the last 30 years of data. The most recent 30 years, compared to previous averages, shows that our climate is getting hotter and wetter (at least in the Houston area).

Screen capture showing new “normal” temperature and precipitation for Houston Intercontinental Airport. Blue line represents precipitation. Orange = ave. minimum temp. Red = average temp. And dark red = average max temp.

The “normals” help farmers, energy companies, water managers, transportation schedulers and others whose businesses depend on weather plan their activities. That includes your local TV weather casters who constantly compare what they predict for tomorrow with what has happened in the past.

What’s Normal – From 30 years Down to The Hour

The NOAA stats come in annual, seasonal, monthly, daily and even hourly tables. Because the normals have been produced since the 1930s, they also help put current weather in a historical context.

The New York Times produced a series of animated “heat” maps that show changes in temperature and precipitation for those 30-year windows from the 1930s to today. Heat maps in this sense do not refer to temperature but to colors that reflect temperature or precipition differences. Hotter colors like red and orange reflect increases. Cooler colors like green and blue reflect decreases.

Choose Your Start/Stop Points Carefully

Curiously, the animations show the U.S. getting both hotter and colder through the decades. Likewise with wetter and drier. You can clearly see alternating cycles of hot and cold, wet and dry. As cycles come and go, where you chose your start and stop points lets you support or disprove your favorite climate change hypothesis.

The change is especially drastic between the new normals and the previous ones, from 2010. “Almost every place in the U.S. has warmed,” Dr. Michael Palecki told the Times. He manages the project at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

Palecki claims the world has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1900, and that the pace of warming has accelerated in recent decades.

However, if you compared 1921-50 with 1941-70, you might think the world was cooling. The same goes for large parts of the county with dry/wet cycles. Although the Houston region has experienced increasing wetness on a fairly consistent basis, you can see drought ebb and flow through other parts of the country.

If you use 1900 as your start point and today as your stopping point, Palecki says the world has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and that the pace of warming has accelerated in recent decades. The precipitation maps show the Southwest becoming increasingly drier, while the Central and Eastern parts of the country are getting wetter.

*These two “heat” maps show the change in average annual precipitation and temperature during the previous 30-year reporting period and today’s.*

Says NOAA, “Most of the U.S. was warmer, and the eastern two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. was wetter, from 1991–2020 than the previous normal period, 1981–2010. The Southwest was considerably drier on an annual basis, while the central northern U.S. has cooled somewhat.”

For More Information

Check out the fascinating NY Times article or go straight to NOAA for far more detailed information.

Like all NOAA statistics, they are publicly available. You can even customize your own data searches based on time and location.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2021 based on information from The NY Times and NOAA

1353 Days since Hurricane Harvey

May 2021 Gate Project Update for Lake Houston Dam

In its March 10th board meeting, the Coastal Water Authority (CWA) accepted the recommendation of a preliminary engineering report to add one thousand feet of crest gates to the uncontrolled spillway portion the Lake Houston Dam. The additional release capacity would let operators shed water faster before, during or after major storms to reduce the risk of flooding.

At the March meeting, directors also approved $4.4 million to begin Phase II of the project. Phase II calls for Black & Veatch to proceed to final engineering of the gates and a coffer dam to protect the work area during construction.

Read the minutes of the March board meeting here. The discussion of the gates starts on page 4 under Item B.

This morning, at its May board meeting, directors received an update on the progress of Phase II work to date and plans for the remainder of the project.

Start of Phase II Engineering Approved in March

In the March meeting, CWA approved funds to begin Phase 2 of the engineering which includes the final design of the selected alternative by Black & Veatch. The selected alternative was “crest gates” constructed on the uncontrolled spillway portion of the dam on its west side. (See below.)

Looking NE at the Spillway of the Lake Houston Dam is in foreground. One thousand feet (about a third) of this spillway will be replaced with crest gates. Gates will be placed at the end closest to the camera position in the image above.

Dam operators can raise or lower crest gates from a bottom hinge, much like the lid on a piano. When in the up position, gates hold water back. When lowered, they release water.

During Harvey, the peak flow over the spillway was five times the average flow over Niagra Falls. A wall of water 11 feet tall cascaded over the spillway above. Enough to fill NRG stadium in 3.5 minutes.

Scope of Phase II Design Work

Also in March, CWA and Black & Veatch completed negotiation of the scope and fee for the final design. The key deliverables during Phase II will include:

Plans to modify the spillway to support the 1,000 linear feet of crest gates (in five 200-foot long sections)
Design of the cofferdam system to protect the work areas during construction
Preparation of a new gate operations plan for CWA Lake Houston Dam operators.

Director Douglas Walker moved to authorize the Executive Director to issue a contract amendment with Black & Veatch Inc. in the amount of $4,465,727.00 for “Phase 2 – Final Design of the Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project.” Director Giti Zarinkelk seconded the motion. The Motion carried unanimously.

May Update

In the May board meeting this morning, directors received an update on Phase II work to date and plans.

In April, the design team held a number of workshops and coordination meetings.

Black & Veatch also completed three weeks of field surveying of the existing spillway; that’s why CWA temporarily lowered Lake Houston during that period.

In other news, for next steps CWA will:

Submit the permit application to the US Army Corps of Engineers by the end of May.
Support City of Houston in a public outreach meeting scheduled for June 17. The public outreach meeting will coincide with the public comment period for the permit application. CWA expects permitting to take nine months, i.e., through March of 2022.
Complete final design by the end of September 2022.

*Screen capture from portion of CWA Board meeting today shows status of Phase II Design work on the dam.*

Next Steps

Does all this mean construction is assured? No. The Army Corps could reject the permit or FEMA could find some fault with the plans. But at least it shows progress. If all plans and permits are approved, construction dollars have already been committed by FEMA. Originally, construction was supposed to have been completed within three years from April 8, 2020. That now looks unlikely unless the City can obtain a deadline extension from FEMA..

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/12/2021

1352 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Headwaters to Baywaters: A Story of Urban Resilience

Several area conservation groups are working with the Houston Area Research Center (HARC) to protect land along riparian corridors and educate people about the importance of that. A stunningly beautiful new website called Headwaters to Baywaters explains how protecting riparian habitat helps protect people from flooding, improve water quality, and produce other benefits far in excess of the dollars invested.

Image from 12/1/2018 photo essay about the role of riparian vegetation in reducing erosion.

New Website Uses Novel Technique

The Headwaters to Baywaters website also uses a novel graphic technique to dramatize the connectedness of waterways and people. Scrolling down one long page takes you on a visually lush journey from Headwaters to Baywaters. It starts far upstream where trickles of water coalesce into small streams and then moves all the way down to Galveston Bay with intermediate stops along the way.

As you scroll, little dialog boxes pop up that present you with tidbits of information that pertain to things you are seeing at that stage in your journey.

It’s informative and impactful. Make sure to share it with everyone in your family. It dramatizes the importance of prevention over correction. Preserving land along rivers and streams is far less costly and time-consuming than trying to correct the problems later if we lose them.

About the Headwaters to Baywaters Initiative

The Headwaters to Baywaters Initiative works to connect regional bayous and Galveston Bay through planning to identify:

High quality, riparian habitats with the potential to contribute to water quality improvements
Restoration and enhancement of riparian lands adjacent to targeted priority areas
Acquisition of land and designation of conservation easements on priority areas for riparian corridor protection.

It is part of the 8-County Gulf-Houston Regional Conservation Plan (RCP), facilitated by Houston Wilderness.

Headwaters to Baywaters Partners

The Headwaters to Baywaters Initiative includes the following partners:

Bayou Land Conservancy has been at the forefront of land preservation in the Houston region for 25 years, with the mission of preserving land along streams for flood control, clean water, and wildlife. For further information visit www.bayoulandconservancy.org and learn about its strategic conservation plan.

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is the non-profit organization revitalizing and transforming Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource. For further information visit www.buffalobayou.org.

The Galveston Bay Foundation’s mission is to preserve, protect and enhance the natural resources of the Galveston Bay estuarine system and its tributaries for present users and for posterity. For further information visit www.galvbay.org.

Houston Audubon Society’s mission is to advance the conservation of birds and positively impact their supporting environments. For further information visit www.houstonaudubon.org.

Katy Prairie Conservancy is a nationally accredited 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to protect coastal prairie, wetlands, and agriculture in southeast Texas for people and wildlife. For further information visit www.katyprairie.org.

About HARC

Founded in 1982 by George P. Mitchell, HARC is a nonprofit research hub providing independent analysis on energy, air, and water issues to people seeking scientific answers. For further information visit www.HARCresearch.org.

Please Help Support This Initiative

These are all great organizations worthy of the support of everyone in the region. The Bayou Land Conservancy has a special focus on the north Houston region. If you want to learn more in person, join the BLC on one of its educational nature walks.

I often focus on the problems of flood mitigation. Supporting this initiative is an easy way to get involved in preventing those problems.

lDr. Stephanie Glenn, HARC’s Program Director for Water and Hydrology is leading this partnership effort.

Posted by Bob Rehak on May 11, 2021

1351 Days since Hurricane Harvey