Greens Archives - Reduce Flooding

Greens Bayou Detention Basin Capacity Steadily Growing

Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and its partners continue to add detention basin capacity along Greens Bayou to reduce the risk of flooding. I flew in a helicopter today with fellow Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force members Ken Willians and Bill Calligari. We flew over Greens, Halls, Hunting, and White Oak Bayous. In this post, let’s focus on what we found in Greens.

From west to east, we flew over the Cutten Basin at 249 and Beltway 8, then followed the bayou over the Antoine, Kuykendahl, Glen Forest, Aldine-Westfield, and Lauder Basins. Some have recently completed construction. Others are still under construction. Here’s a rundown of everything between US249 and US59 along Greens.

Cutten Basin

Scheduled for completion later this year, the Cutten Basin covers approximately 250 acres. It includes five compartments, four south of Greens Bayou and one north. When complete, it will hold 850 acre feet of stormwater. That’s enough to hold a foot of rain falling across approximately 1.3 square miles. It will lower the water surface elevation along Greens by a third of a foot in a hundred-year flood.

*Looking S toward Beltway 8. Greens Bayou flows from right to left through the center of the frame.*

*Looking East. Greens cuts through the upper left portion of the frame. Beltway 8 cuts through the upper right.*

*Looking West across Hollister which cuts through the middle of the frame.*

Antoine Basin

HCFCD and the Army Corps started the $80 million Antoine Basin in 2015. The Army Corps designed and built it. Satellite photos in Google Earth first show it holding water in November 2020.

*Looking SW. West Greens Road arcs through center of frame. Greens flows from upper right to lower left. Beltway 8 near top of frame.*

The completed basin holds approximately 1,650 acre-feet, or 538 million gallons of stormwater. To put that in perspective, it holds a foot of rain falling over a 2.5 square mile area, or half a foot falling across 5 square miles!

Kuykendahl Basin

Kuykendahl Stormwater Detention Basin sits on a 288-acre property near Kuykendahl Road and Ella Boulevard along an unnamed tributary of Greens Bayou. In floods, it holds water back from entering the bayou and then releases it safely and slowly after the storm has passed.

*Kuykendahl in foreground. Note how densely populated the area is with apartments.*

Contractors removed 3.61 million cubic yards of soil from the site. It holds 2,325 acre-feet, or 757.6 million gallons of stormwater. That’s a foot of rain falling across 3.6 square miles, or half a foot falling across 7.2.

Following construction, contractors planted 22.19 acres of native tree and shrubs, and 12.79 acres of stormwater quality-treatment wetlands. They also created 14.04 acres of other wetlands to replace those impacted by construction.

Ceres Environmental Services Inc. constructed the Kuykendahl basin and another to the east (see Glen Forest below). Combined, they were the largest construction contract ever managed by HCFCD up to that time. The two basins reduced or removed flooding risks and damages from more than 1,100 structures along Greens Bayou. “Avoided damages” exceed $90 million in every flood. Far more than the cost of construction.

FEMA awarded $39.2 million to the Harris County Flood Control District, under the Hurricane Ike Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) to construct the basins and HCFCD contributed matching funds.

Google Earth satellite photos indicate construction finished for both basins in 2020.

Glen Forest

Farther east along Greens, the Glen Forest Detention Basin extends from I-45 to Imperial Valley north of Greens Road.

*Looking West at Glen Forest Basin on Greens Bayou between I-45 at top of frame and Imperial Valley Drive under camera position*.

The Glen Forest Basin project removed approximately 2.15 million cubic yards of soil in three connected cells. The completed basin holds approximately 894 acre-feet. That’s 1.4 square miles one foot deep or 2.8 square miles a half foot deep.

Aldine Westfield Basins: Phases 1 and 2

Farther east along Greens Bayou, directly south of Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport, you will find two more new basins. HCFCD completed construction on the first in April 2021. The second (to the north) then began construction and has not yet finished.

*Looking East from over Aldine Westfield Road in foreground at Phase One. Beltway 8 in upper right. Note Greens Bayou turning south under Beltway in upper right.*

*Looking ENE. Phase 2 is still under construction on Aldine-Westfield Road immediately north of Phase 1 (lower right). Note airport tower on horizon.*

Phase 1 holds approximately 667 acre-feet of stormwater and Phase II will hold another 600 acre-feet. Two 5’x4′ reinforced concrete boxes will connect the two phases and outfalls into Greens Bayou.

Together the two basins will hold a foot of rain falling over more than two square miles.

Lauder Basin

1.5 miles to south of the Aldine-Westfield Basins, you will find the Lauder Basin: Phases 1 and 2.

Phase 2 of the Lauder Basin is starting in the forested area in the upper right of the photo above.

Phase 1 completed construction late last year. In May of 2022, the Texas Water Development Board granted HCFCD more than $2.2 million to begin Phase 2.

The two basins when complete in 2024 will hold a foot of rain falling over more than 2 square miles (1260 acre feet). That concludes your helicopter flight down Greens Bayou for today.

Greens by the Numbers

Together, these basins should hold approximately a foot of rain falling over 12 square miles.

That’s not enough to prevent flooding in another Harvey. But it will certainly reduce flooding for thousands of people. HCFCD has not yet released updated flood-risk data for the mid- and upper reaches of Greens Bayou (shown above). More news on that when it becomes available.

According to data obtained from HCFCD via a FOIA Request, Flood Control and its partners have spent more than $435 million on flood mitigation in Greens Bayou between 1/1/2000 and the end of last year. That includes money spent on all phases of all projects shown above.

Only three other watersheds have received more funding since 2000: Brays, White Oak and Sims. But more on those later.

Greens was the second most heavily damaged watershed in five major storms (Allison, Tax Day, Memorial Day, Harvey, Imelda). Those storms damaged more than 29,000 Greens structures.

58% of the population of Greens has low-to-moderate income (LMI). That ranks 6th on the LMI scale of Harris County watersheds.

Posted Bob Rehak on 7/19/22

1785 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Surprise! Surprise! Halls, Greens Watersheds Get $422 Million of Flood-Mitigation Funding, Not “ZERO.”

First in an Eight-Part series on Flood-Mitigation Funding in Harris County

Recently, many local leaders, citizens and media have claimed that two largely minority and low-to-moderate-income (LMI) Harris County watersheds – Halls and Greens Bayous – have gotten no flood-mitigation funding. The actual data shows the exact opposite of what many people have been told, i.e., that racial bias affects the distribution of flood mitigation funds.

Halls and Greens have received $422 million since 2000. And they received $200 million of that since Harvey. Meanwhile, Kingwood has never had one Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) capital improvement project.

FOIA Request Shows Where Money Has Actually Gone

Information, newly available through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request, reveals that Greens and Halls Bayous, have received 16% of all Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) funding since 2000 and 18% since Hurricane Harvey. That’s almost one fifth of all flood-mitigation funding for 23 watersheds in the whole county!

*Data based on information provided by Harris County Flood Control in response to FOIA request*

But the popular perception is that flood mitigation money is all going to affluent neighborhoods like those in Kingwood at the expense of low-to-moderate income areas, such as Greens and Halls. Local media have helped spread this misinformation:

*From the twitter feed of a Houston Chronicle writer who covers flooding.*

FOIA Request Reveals Flaws in Narrative

One Harris County commissioner frequently claims Greens and Halls are being discriminated against in the allocation of flood-mitigation funding. He says residents in those watersheds are at the “back of the bus” and if commissioners don’t fix that, “We’ll have blood on our hands.”

That sounded extreme. So, to see how bad the problem was, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in early March. Out of 23 watersheds:

Since 2000, Halls and Greens rank #8 and #3 respectively in flood mitigation “dollars received.”
Since Harvey, Halls and Greens rank #11 and #2 respectively

While #11 and #8 may sound “middle of the pack” for Halls, keep in mind that Halls ranks #16 in size. The entire watershed is only 42 out of 1,776 square miles that make up Harris County.

Halls actually ranks #3 among all watersheds in “dollars/square mile”
since 2000 (eclipsed only by Brays and White Oak).

Since 2000, Halls has received more than $3 million per square mile. Compare that to $0.5 million for the San Jacinto watershed, a frequent target of Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis and his followers.

Here’s what all watersheds have received and where they rank, along with other measures, such as:

Watershed area
Population
Density
LMI population
Spending per capita
Spending per square mile
Structures damaged in floods

*Current as of end of March 2021.* *Note: data excludes maintenance spending. Spending shows only capital-improvement flood-mitigation projects.* To see the original HCFCD data, click here. For a high resolution, printable PDF of my summary sheet above, click here.

You can look at this data in dozens of ways. And I will. However, any way you cut it, it does not support discrimination against the poor or a racial bias in funding. If you didn’t look any further, you could use this data to support the opposite point of view, i.e., that funding discriminates against more affluent neighborhoods. However…

Spending Actually Closely Tracks Damage

Halls and Greens Bayou watersheds contain large percentages of low-to-moderate income (LMI) households. Versus other watersheds, Halls ranks #1 in LMI households (71%) and Greens ranks #6 (57%).

Of all the rankings on all the measures, the measure that seems to track most closely with funding is “properties damaged.” One would hope for that! It’s a perfectly rational, non-biased basis for allocating funds.

Data shows that the Flood Control District is spending the most money where flooding has damaged the most structures.

Dollars Flow to Damage

See below.

*Flood-mitigation funding by watershed arranged from highest to lowest with spending and damage rankings.*

To underscore that point, consider that:

Greens ranks #3 in funding since 2000 and #2 since Harvey. It also had the 2nd most damage in four major floods (Allison, Tax Day, Memorial Day, and Harvey).
Halls ranks 3rd in spending per square mile since 2000 and 4th since Harvey. It also had the 4th most damage in all four storms.

Together, Halls and Greens have received $422 million since 2000. That’s hardly “nothing.” Hardly “back of the bus.” And their high rankings hardly make an argument for racial or income bias.

Crucial Role of Tropical Storm Allison

Flood-mitigation studies, funding, and construction can take years and even decades. Tropical Storm Allison, 20 years ago this month, played a role in the rankings above. Compare the watershed and rainfall maps below. The heaviest rainfall in Allison fell directly over Halls and Greens Bayous. Thus, both of these watersheds experienced major damage two decades ago.

*Map of Harris County Watersheds. Note the location of Halls and Greens in the upper left quadrant of Beltway 8.*

Allison rainfall map. Source: HCFCD via NOAA. Rain was heaviest within the northeast quadrant of Beltway 8. It contains Halls and Greens Bayous. The 15” band also tracked WNW across the upstream portions of Halls and Greens.

Projects Identified Earlier Are Farther Along

That actually helps explain why they rank so high in funding today. During Allison, Greens ranked #1 in damage (15,590 structures) and Halls ranked #2 (12,820).

Many projects identified decades ago, such as those in Halls and Greens, received sporadic funding before the 2018 flood bond. Surveys and engineering reports may have been completed or “rights of way” acquired. But many costly construction projects had to be postponed until money became available.

Before 2018, the Flood Control District only had $60M per year to spend across all of Harris County. Then, when voters approved the flood bond in 2018, Halls and Greens projects were “shovel ready” and could start immediately. In essence, they had a head start and it shows in funding!

Also, in 2019, commissioners adopted an “equity” prioritization plan that accelerated spending in LMI watersheds. So, Halls and Greens got an extra boost.

That’s not to say these watersheds have gotten everything residents wanted or needed. But then, who has?

Numbers Contradict Narrative

Those who watch Commissioners Court are treated month after month to tales about how flood-mitigation spending has discriminated against people in low-income watersheds with high percentages of LMI households. Halls and Greens are repeatedly held up as examples.

The FOIA data does not support that theory. It shows that low-income watersheds are not being ignored. And higher income watersheds are not getting all the money. Anyone who says they are is not looking at the numbers.

In fact, data from the FOIA request revealed that the Kingwood area has had exactly ZERO Flood Control District capital improvement projects in the last 20 years. The often-cited Buffalo Bayou watershed has had exactly TWO capital Flood Control District capital improvement projects in the last 20 years.

Those who make allegations of racial bias ignore projects on the ground.

To learn more about recently completed projects or projects currently under construction in Halls and Greens Bayou watersheds, see these previous posts:

Tomorrow, I will examine flood-mitigation funding in six watersheds with the lowest income rankings versus six with the highest.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/21/2021 based on HCFCD data supplied in response to a FOIA request.

1392 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.

Three More Major Projects on Greens Bayou Completed Recently by HCFCD, Army Corps

Tuesday, I posted about three Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) floodwater-detention projects in construction on Greens Bayou. But HCFCD and the Army Corps recently completed three more. All three in the latter category started in 2015 – before the flood bond.

Magnitude of Recent Mitigation Investment on Greens

Looking at all six (in construction + recently completed) helps one understand the magnitude of investment in this watershed during the last six years.

The combined cost of all six projects totals more than $222 million.
HCFCD.org

The map below shows the locations of the recently completed projects in black; those still in construction are red. This post will focus on #4, #5 and #6 below.

*#4, #5 and #6 represent three projects started in 2015 and recently completed.*

#4: Greens Bayou Federal Flood Risk Management Project

The Greens Bayou Federal Flood Risk Management Project, also known as the Antoine Stormwater Detention Basin, lies just east of the Cutten Basin, discussed Tuesday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District (Corps) and Harris County Flood Control District broke ground in 2015. Phase I cost $58 million. Phase II cost $21.4 million. And channel improvements cost $5.7.

*Location of stormwater basin shown in yellow. Cutten basin is to left. Orange brackets show scope of channel improvements.*

Phase I included approximately 3.7 miles of channel conveyance improvements from Cutten Road to Veterans Memorial Drive and approximately 108 acres of stormwater detention storage near the intersection of Antoine Drive and Beltway 8.

Phase II construction began in late 2016. It included completion of the north cell of the basin, located north of West Greens Road and excavation of the south cell, which is located south of West Greens Road.

*From Google Earth Pro. Most recent satellite image is from 2/11/2019. For more recent construction shots, see below.*

The Corps designed and built the project. It also planted trees, shrubs, and grasses on disturbed areas. These features will improve stormwater quality, support wildlife and provide opportunities for recreational benefits.

West Greens Drive bisects the Antoine basin, dividing it into two parts. However, box culverts connect them and they function as a single detention pond. The completed basin holds approximately 1,650 acre-feet, or 538 million gallons of stormwater. To put that in perspective, it holds a foot of rain falling over a 2.5 square mile area, or half a foot falling across 5 square miles!

Looking SW at the Antoine Stormwater Basin on Greens Bayou. Greens Drive bisects the project. Beltway 8 North is in background. Greens Bayou flows diagonally through the frame from right to left. Photographed on 4/22/2021

As part of a cost sharing arrangement, the Flood Control District purchased the 138-acre detention basin site. HCFCD also acquired other property and easements, and relocated utilities. The District will maintain the basin and channel in perpetuity.

#5: Kuykendahl Stormwater Detention Basin

Kuykendahl Stormwater Detention Basin sits on a 288-acre property near Kuykendahl Road and Ella Boulevard along an unnamed tributary of Greens Bayou.

*The Kuykendahl Basin is the top purple area.*

Contractors removed 3.61 million cubic yards of soil from the site. It holds 2,325 acre-feet, or 757.6 million gallons of stormwater. That’s a foot of rain falling across 3.6 square miles, or half a foot falling across 7.2.

*2019 satellite image from Google Earth Pro of Kuykendahl Basin still under construction.*

Following construction, contractors planted 22.19 acres of native tree and shrubs, and 12.79 acres of stormwater quality-treatment wetlands. They also created 14.04 acres of other wetlands to replace those impacted by construction.

*What the Kuykendahl Basin looks like today, complete with picnic area.*

Native, woody, riparian vegetation stabilizes banks, shades water, and creates habitat for birds.

FEMA awarded $39.2 million to the Harris County Flood Control District, under the Hurricane Ike Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), for construction of this and another stormwater detention basin (see #6 below). The Flood Control District contributed matching funds for both projects.

Ceres Environmental Services Inc. constructed the two basins for $63.7 million. Combined, they were the largest construction contract ever managed by the Flood Control District up to that time. The two basins reduced or removed flooding risks and damages from more than 1,100 structures along Greens Bayou. “Avoided damage” exceeds $90 million in every flood.

Both projects (#5 and #6) are part of Progress Greens, a suite of flood damage reduction projects in the Greens Bayou watershed. All projects under the Progress Greens umbrella will function together to reduce flooding risks and damages for residents and businesses within the 213 square miles of the Greens Bayou watershed.

#6: Glen Forest Stormwater Detention Basin

The Glen Forest Stormwater Detention Basin lies southeast of the Kuykendahl Basin on a 160-acre site east of Interstate 45 and slightly north of Beltway 8. See P500-08-00 in the map below.

*The Glen Forest project is at the purple location on the right.*

The Glen Forest Basin project removed approximately 2.15 million cubic yards of soil in three connected cells. The completed basin holds approximately 894 acre-feet, or 291.3 million gallons of stormwater. That’s 1.4 square miles one foot deep or 2.8 square miles a half foot deep.

*2019 satellite image from Google Earth Pro of Glen Forest Detention Basin at Beltway 8 North and 45* *while still under construction.*

Basin design included 2.75 acres of native tree and shrub plantings and 0.81 acres of stormwater quality treatment wetlands.

Natural-channel design features, such as those in #5 above, provide environmental and water-quality enhancement.

*The finished project today. Looking WNW from Imperial Valley Drive and Greens Road toward I-45 in background.*

Regulation Vs. Mitigation

Areas both up and downstream from these ponds have extremely high-density commercial, industrial and residential development. Drive up Kuykendahl or Imperial Valley, for instance, and you will find mile after mile of apartment complexes. There’s little room for water to soak in during rainstorms.

More sensible development regulations that mandated onsite detention ponds when this area was being built might have prevented a lot of flood damage and heartbreak. Mitigating flood issues is always far more expensive, difficult and time consuming than preventing them. And many times, mitigating them after the fact is not even possible because of the shortage of land.

Value of Coalitions and Cooperation

Projects like the three above don’t happen without the combined efforts of elected representatives at the county, city, state and federal levels, plus community groups such as the Greens Bayou Coalition (GBC).

According to Jill Boullion, former director of the GBC, “The GBC advocated for $55 million in USACE funding from 2009 to 2015 for the Antoine Basin (Project #4) alone. We made many trips to DC, Galveston and Dallas to meet with elected officials, US Army Corps, Office of Management and Budget, and others. The Obama administration finally approved the funding! That was my first advocacy project and, boy, did I learn a LOT!!!”

The moral of that story: never underestimate the value of coalitions and cooperation in moving these projects forward.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/22/21

1332 Days since Hurricane Harvey

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