The Texas Water Development Board is seeking public comment on its plan to allocate $375 million in funding from the State’s flood infrastructure fund for the 2024-25 state fiscal year.

That prompted me to compare the TWDB and Harris County plans for ranking flood projects. The differences remind me of how the scoring systems favor certain projects in some areas and not others.

Harris County and the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) use distinctly different priorities when considering which flood-mitigation projects to fund.

The biggest differences have to do with the weights given to severity of flooding, protection of infrastructure, social vulnerability and maintenance costs.

The state also uses “benefit/cost ratios” much like the federal government. The county, however, uses a measure called “project efficiency,” which is related but slightly different.

Differences in Ranking Projects

Here is the most recent prioritization framework that Harris County adopted in 2022 and again in 2023. And here is the draft “intended use plan” for the State of Texas 2024-25 Flood Infrastructure Fund.

Let’s look more closely at each plan and then examine their differences.

Harris County Prioritization Framework

Harris County examines:

• Project Efficiency…
  • Using People Benefitted
  • Using Structures Benefitted
• Existing Conditions
• Social Vulnerability Index
• Long Term Maintenance Costs
• Environmental Impacts
• Potential for Multiple Benefits

Each project is assigned a score for each criterion below ranging from 0 to 10. A score of “10” indicates the project fully met the criterion and a score of “0” indicates that it did not.

Proposed TWDB Matrix

The TWDB scoring matrix measures more factors and gives them different weights.

The first thing you notice is that the table above is much wider and deeper than the County’s matrix. That’s because it lists evaluation criteria for different categories. And criteria sometimes change depending on the category.

Comparison of Differences

Social Vulnerability

Harris County gives 20% of all projects’ weights to social vulnerability. But the TWDB only gives it 5% weight. TWDB also uses social vulnerability as a tie breaker (see page 22).

Equity

Harris County has organized its flood-mitigation priorities since 2019 around equity. The proposed TWDB plan does not mention the word.

Efficiency

Harris County measures the efficiency of removing people and structures from the 100-year floodplain. The County defines efficiency as the cost of the project divided by the number of people or structures benefited. It gives them 45% weight within the final score.

TWDB also measures the number of people and structures removed from the 100-year floodplain. But unlike the county, it factors in critical facilities, the number of low water crossings, and miles of roads removed from the 100-year floodplain. Combined, they represent 55% of the weight. TWDB does not weigh cost against these measures at this point in its scoring matrix. However, it separately gives 2.5% weight to benefit/cost ratios.

Flood Risk

Harris County does not directly incorporate flood risk in its evaluations. It uses a proxy called “Existing Conditions” and gives it 20% weight. Existing Conditions measures the level of service provided by a detention basin or a channel. For instance, one with a 2-year level of service floods in a 2-year storm. One with a 25-year level of service floods in a 25-year storm, etc.

TWDB does not directly measure flood risk either. Rather it measures the number of structures, people, critical facilities, low-water crossings and road miles inside the 100-year floodplain. It’s a measure of what is “at risk.” These measures collectively add up to 100% of the score for a flood-management evaluation and 60% of the score for a flood-management strategy.

Severity

Harris County gives no weight to the severity of flooding. TWDB does. TWDB measures both the average depth of flooding in a 100-year storm and the percentage of a community’s population exposed to a 100-year flood. Together, they can account for 10% of a project’s total score.

Critical Facilities

Harris County does not differentiate among structures removed from a 100-year floodplain. But TWDB recognizes critical facilities. Such facilities could include sewage and water treatment plants; bridges; schools; hospitals; police and fire stations; and more. These affect entire communities, not just individuals.

Maintenance Costs

Harris County projects maintenance costs and gives them 5% of the weight. TWDB does NOT consider costs associated with current or future operations and maintenance activities.

No Right or Wrong Way

Neither the TWDB plan, nor the County’s plan is right or wrong. Their weights reflect the needs of different people and different organizations in different places. For instance, the state is not involved in maintenance, but maintenance historically has consumed as much as 50% of Harris County Flood Control District’s budget. So it makes sense for the county to prioritize low maintenance costs.

However, I would observe that Harris County could borrow some ideas from the state, such as incorporating measures for severity of flooding, protection of life, and protection of critical facilities. The areas that had the deepest flooding and the highest loss of life during Harvey have received little flood-mitigation assistance from Harris County compared to poor areas.

What Do You Think?

TWDB seeks public comment on its proposed plan by January 1, 2024. What do you think? Based on your flood experience, do you think TWDB could do something better? Let them know.

Their plan includes more information than shown above. For instance, it also includes information on eligibility, minimum standards, program timeline, and financial assistance categories.

If you wish to comment email FIF@twdb.texas.gov and specify in the subject line “FIF IUP Comments.” Should you have any questions, please contact the TWDB by emailing the same address.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/11/23

2295 Days since Hurricane Harvey