drainage ditch Archives - Reduce Flooding

6/24/25 – Representatives of the City of Houston District E Office, Houston Public Works, Kings Forest, and the Bear Branch Trail Association (BBTA) met this morning west of Kingwood High School. Purpose: to discuss clearing a drainage ditch that had been neglected for so long, it became seriously overgrown. So overgrown, in fact, that the ditch was almost impossible to see.

“*Let’s send out a special recon unit.*“

Can You Spot the Water?

And then! Aha! Water! Can you see it below? It’s almost up to the level of Kingwood Drive…when it hasn’t rained for eight days. That’s how blocked the ditch was by vegetation!

*See reflection to right of tree near bottom of frame.*

One hundred and ten homes adjacent to this ditch flooded, not including the community meeting room. So did Kingwood High School. And Kingwood Drive which is a major evacuation route.

All that vegetation increases the risk of future flooding by backing water up.

Residents have been lobbying for years to get the City to address this issue. Now, it’s finally happening!

The Plan to Clear It

I don’t have anything in writing yet, but I think Public Works agreed to start from the downstream side which you see immediately below. The vegetation blocking the outflow needs to be removed and the culverts need cleaning out.

*The ditch outfalls onto the Kingwood Country Club Lake Course and Lake Kingwood.*

More vegetation in the median also blocks the flow and will be cleared.

*Can you even see where the ditch crosses the median?*

Next, they will work back north to clear the entrance to the culverts under the westbound lanes.

Then, they will continue working their way up the ditch removing blockages, including several trees that fell during Beryl last year.

After removing those, Public Works will ensure that the storm sewers leading from neighborhoods to the ditch are also clear and graded properly. Sediment currently blocks the outfalls backing water up into storm sewers and neighborhoods.

BBTA and Kings Forest representatives plus their residents emphasized that they don’t want the entire greenbelt scalped. They just want to remove enough vegetation to restore the flow as designed.

Chris Bloch of the BBTA Board hacked his way through the underbrush to help document the blockages. He said that Public works told him they hope to have the work started by the end of June and completed in July before the start of school.

Public Works also promised to evaluate the roadside ditches in Kings Forest to restore conveyance. But that will be a separate project.

Thank You!

Thanks to Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger, and his staff members Dustin Hodges and Demari Perez. Thanks also to BBTA Board members Chris Bloch and Lee Danner for their assistance in documenting issues and granting access to their property.

Finally, thanks to the staff of Houston Public Works who showed up in the heat and humidity this morning. They braved poison ivy and mosquitoes the size of B-52 Bombers to help protect residents.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/24/25

2856 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Drainage ditches in Colony Ridge appear to violate Liberty County drainage standards from both 2004 and 2019.

Both 2004 and 2019 regulations require developers to plant the slopes of ditches with grass to control erosion.
In addition, 2019 regulations require backslope interceptor swales, another erosion-control measure. These prevent stormwater from running down the sides of ditches.
According to residents, the developer has made little effort to do either or to bring older ditches up to current standards.

The violations contribute to sedimentation of the East Fork San Jacinto and its tributaries, and flooding from Lake Houston to Plum Grove.

Soil-Stabilization Violations

2004 Liberty County Road and Drainage Standards for Subdivisions and Development stipulate in Section 3.72 on Page 28 that, “All channels, and adjacent area, which has been disturbed by construction equipment shall be seeded with Bermuda grass or other grass as approved by the Precinct Commissioner or Designated Agent at the rate of eight pounds per acre (8 lb/ac). Seeding shall conform to Item 164 Seeding for Erosion Control of the “TxDOT Standards”.

*Note erosion on sides of ditches. Colony Ridge 6/16/2020*

Liberty County’s Subdivision and Development Regulations, revised January 2019 contain the identical language on slope stabilization. See Section 40.9.11 Channel Excavation (Page 91).

Backslope Interceptor Swale Requirement

2019 regulations also mandate additional erosion-control measures. The section on Erosion Control on page 100 states: “All drainage facilities must be designed and maintained in a manner which minimizes the potential for damage due to erosion. No bare earthen slopes will be allowed. Various slope treatments, including turf establishment, concrete slope paving, and rip-rap, are accepted. Flow velocities should be kept below permissible values for each type of slope treatment. Interceptor structures and backslope swale systems are required to prevent sheet flows from eroding the side slopes of open channels and detention facilities.” [Emphasis added.]

The emphasis on “All” and “maintained” would seem to require developers to bring all ditches up to the 2019 standard, but that clearly has not happened.

*Colony Ridge 6/16/2020*. *Note severe erosion, lack of grass on slopes and absence of backslope interceptor swales.*

What Backslope Swales Look Like

Liberty County regulations don’t provide schematics of backslope interceptor swales, but Harris County Flood Control regulations do. See below. At the top of the ditch embankment, a notch is cut into the horizontal area. This notch collects rain and channels it to a series of corrugated metal or HDPE drains that empty into the bottom of the channel. This prevents water from pouring over the banks of the channel and eroding them.

Courtesy Harris County Flood Control District. *For photo, see second to last image below.*

Stark Contrast Between Regulations and Reality

As you look at the pictures below, see if you can spot the:

Backslope swales (notches)?
Drain pipes?
Grass-lined banks?

You can’t. They aren’t there.

*Colony Ridge 6/26/2020. Note severe erosion on banks. This ditch was built in 2015.*

*Colony Ridge ditch draining into Maple Branch. 4/25/2019.*

*Colony Ridge 6/14/2020 in newly developing area.*

Properly constructed backslope interceptor swales constitute a best management practice (BMP). They can prevent the type of erosion you see above. This educational PowerPoint explains how these structures work as well as the dangers of not building them correctly.

But construction technique does not seem to be the problem in Colony Ridge. They simply have not been built. That’s why erosion on the sides of the channels is so rampant.

Consequences of Erosion

All this eroded sediment has to go somewhere. And it did.

*Between Kingwood and Huffman,* the *East Fork Mouth Bar downstream from Colony Ridge grew 4000 feet during Harvey and Imelda. Average water depth through this area decreased from 18 feet to 3 feet.*

Colony Ridge isn’t 100% responsible for ALL this sedimentation. Natural erosion and sand mines also contributed. But substandard drainage practices in a 12-13,000 acre development had to play a large role.

The City of Houston is still dredging the West Fork Mouth Bar, more than three years after Harvey. Cost to taxpayers to date: more than $100 million. No one yet knows how much it will cost to remove the East Fork Mouth Bar.

Plum Grove residents have also documented clogged streams and bayous that they say have contributed to local flooding. Plum Grove is suing the developer. The TCEQ found construction practices bad enough to affect human health.

It seems like prevention would be more effective than correction.

The Right Way

Ironically, Harris County has regulations similar to Liberty County’s that govern construction of drainage ditches. But the results are much different when and where people actually follow the regulations. See below.

*Backslope interceptor swale on Taylor Gully in Harris County.* *12/4/2020*

*Taylor Gully in Harris County 9/7/2020.*

Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/5/2020

1194 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 453 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.

Tag Archive for: drainage ditch

“I Know There’s a Drainage Ditch in There Somewhere”