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[Click here to download a PDF version]
Comprehensive Flooding and Drainage
Solutions
My plan to reduce flooding and improve
Houston's drainage infrastructure
Houston is well known for frequent
flooding and constant drainage
problems. Following Tropical Storm
Allison we learned it would take $3
billion to bring our drainage
infrastructure up to current standards,
but we have failed to take a
comprehensive and proactive approach to
addressing flooding and drainage in some
of our most frequently affected areas.
Different parts of our city flood for
different reasons and no single solution
will solve all of our problems. As a
five year employee of Houston’s Public
Works and Engineering Department and
member of the Texas Floodplain
Management Association, I know how to
tackle our flooding and drainage
problems and will take an aggressive
approach to solving those problems.
٭Creating an Infrastructure
Enterprise Fund
Since
2006 I have advocated for creation of a
separate enterprise fund for our public
infrastructure projects because there is
more to our drainage system than just
pipes and ditches. By creating such a
fund we will lock in the funding for
these projects that is currently at risk
of being siphoned off for
non-infrastructure projects.
Additionally, we must take a city-wide
approach to improving our infrastructure
and prioritize projects on the basis of
need and impact instead of location.
Unlike the General Fund, taxpayers will
know exactly how much of their tax
dollars are paying for infrastructure.
I have proposed increasing drainage
improvements and maintenance funding to
$100 million by FY2013 and to $150
million by FY2017. Protecting our
existing funding is a good start toward
that goal.
٭Local and Regional Detention
Strategies
While Houstonians
are always aware of repeat flooding
associated with our bayous, many areas
in Houston are prone to localized
flooding because stormwater cannot drain
to bayous and channels or because the
areas were designed decades ago when
drainage was not used as criteria in
development. An effective solution is
to work toward local and regional
detention strategies in our
neighborhoods. We have already begun to
require detention for some new
development, but we must consider
establishing detention in or near
existing neighborhoods, particularly
those neighborhoods that have begun
experiencing localized flooding for the
first time.
During heavy rain events, water can
overload our stormwater system and cause
it to back up, leading to localized
flooding, even when our bayous and
channels are significantly below flood
stage. By creating detention areas that
serve smaller areas within communities,
the water can be kept out of homes and
other structures while preventing an
overload of our stormwater system.
These detention areas can also serve as
valuable parks and green space that
improve quality of life.
As Houston continues to develop, we have
also seen an increased impact on
drainage by smaller developments such as
new homes that take up 80 to 90 percent
of a lot where the previous structure
covered only 25 to 50 percent. We can
encourage on-site or underground
detention on lots under the current
threshold of 15,000 square feet by
offering tax incentives to homeowners or
developers to offset the cost of
installing such detention. In most
cases, underground detention can be
constructed in ways that make it
invisible to the average person and a
very effective solution to small
drainage issues that add up to major
problems when multiple properties in a
small area are redeveloped.
For communities near bayous and
channels, including those in the
regulatory floodplain and floodway,
detention can be used as mitigation for
development in the 1% (“100-year”)
floodplain. Vacant lots in the
regulatory floodway can be converted to
detention and green space
to help protect homes and create parks
and green space
on properties that cannot otherwise be
developed.
٭Making
the Comprehensive Drainage Plan Work
Our Comprehensive Drainage Plan (CDP)
was developed in 2003, but has been
hindered by a lack of adequate funding.
Once a separate enterprise fund is
established, I will work to retool the
CDP
in a way that addresses our most
critical needs and anticipates future
growth so our drainage projects can be
designed to accommodate new growth.
This may mean “overbuilding” our
infrastructure so it can satisfy needs
that exist in 10, 20 or more years.
Investment in infrastructure is an
investment in the future because the
typical lifespan of our infrastructure
is often several decades, and new
products and technologies are increasing
infrastructure life every day. By
building to satisfy a future need, we
can significantly reduce long-term
costs. It is always less expensive to
build now than to rebuild later. I will
work to develop a long-term drainage
plan that maximizes the lifespan and
capacity of our drainage system.
٭Streamlining
Neighborhood Street Reconstruction
Our streets are part of our drainage
system, but we often fail to consider
street reconstruction projects as
drainage projects. As inconvenient as
it may be when our streets flood, we all
know it is better to have water in the
street than in your house.
Reconstruction of streets with open
ditch drainage generally includes the
installation of underground stormwater
infrastructure and an overall lowering
of the street height. In some cases,
streets can be lowered by 18 inches to
two feet, which creates a substantial
amount of storage space for stormwater
runoff and can help save homes from
flood damage, but the wait for street
reconstruction now averages eight years
and includes a very time and labor
intensive community petition process. I
will work to streamline our Neighborhood
Street Reconstruction Program to reduce
wait times and will approach the program
from a drainage perspective in many of
our severely affected areas.
٭Aggressive
Pursuit of Grants for Minor Improvements
For many citizens in Houston who have
faced repeated flood damage, a simple
project like raising their home six
inches or other small-scale mitigation
projects could mean the difference
between a dry home and another
devastating flooding disaster. Small
improvements can be very inexpensive
compared to the cost of recovering from
a flood event, but are often
unaffordable for low-income and elderly
residents. Some of our most vulnerable
communities have many residents who face
a hardship in protecting their homes,
and we can assist them in ways that
improve their quality of life and
protect property values. I will work
with our Congressional delegation to
bring more of our federal tax dollars
back home to help protect our citizens
from flood damage.
٭Reducing
Flood Insurance Premiums
During my tenure with Houston’s Public
Works Department, we successfully
improved our classification in the
National Flood Insurance Program’s
Community Rating System three times. We
went from a Class 8 to a Class 5, which
means our citizens are paying $10
million dollars less in flood insurance
premiums than they were several years
ago. This is unprecedented for a city
of Houston’s size, and I am very proud
of our accomplishment. I will work to
give our Public Works Department and
Floodplain Management Office the tools
they need to improve our rating to a
Class 4 as quickly as possible. This
will save Houstonians an additional $1.5
million in flood insurance premiums.
That is money we can put back in your
pocket.
٭Buyout
of Ineligible Properties
As part of an overall detention strategy
and efforts to improve Houston’s
Community Rating, a portion of the
drainage improvement budget should be
used to purchase properties that have
faced repeated flood losses but are
otherwise ineligible for the federal
buyout program. Vacant properties in
the regulatory floodway that are
prohibited from new development under
our current ordinances are ineligible
because they do not contain structures
that can be damaged, yet they face
potentially devastating reductions in
value because they cannot be developed
due to restrictions in our floodplain
ordinance. These properties should be
included in a buyout program and can be
used as mitigation or local detention
projects. Once we are able to increase
our drainage budget to $100 million, I
propose dedicating 5 to 10 percent of
the drainage budget toward buyouts with
an emphasis on those buyouts that will
benefit a local mitigation or detention
strategy that helps protect our
citizens.
٭Drainage
Improvements Improve Public Safety and
Health
Rescuing flood victims costs taxpayers a
lot of money, and the effects of
flooding can take a significant toll on
public health when stormwater
contains trash, debris and pollutants or
infiltrates our sanitary sewer system
and causes those lines to overflow into
structures and in streets where people
may have to wade to get to safety.
Flood damage creates a risk of mold and
other harm. By lowering the risk of
flooding and flood damage, we can reduce
the burden on taxpayers of emergency
rescue and help protect Houstonians from
harmful effects of floodwater and
damage, which disproportionately affects
the elderly and low-income citizens.
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