Fighting Floods

Part I 

Before coming to the University of Houston for a college education, I attended the same school for 12 years. This school sat next to the White Oak Bayou watershed, meaning that I would see the White Oak Bayou almost every day for 12 years straight. Despite this, I must admit that I shamefully never bothered to learn about the White Oaks Bayou, not even bothering to learn its name. Now, I no longer see this watershed every day on the way to school. However, I became curious about it and decided to attempt to do research on it or at the very least learn what it was called. As a result, I began research and figured out that it was called the White Oak Bayou. In doing so, not only did I discover the name of the water shed, but I also learned that the White Oak Bayou had a problem with flooding. I found this strange, as I have never in my memory see the Bayou to be flood. As a result, I began to ask questions such as how these floods can be prevented and how can we prevent damages? 

The first step I took in my journey to find the answers to my question about the White Oak Bayou started at the Specials collection of the University of Houston Library in order to do archival research. During my first session there, I chose a box that appeared to be filled with information on the White Oaks Bayou. In this box, I found three folders which contained information about flooding of the White Oaks Bayou. From reading through the folders I learned of plans that were proposed in order to stop flooding and mitigate flooding damage, but were rejected due to various reasons. Some plans appeared standard, such as a plan to build on the watershed in order to make it more cable of holding water. Other plans, however, seemed more outlandish, such as a plan to buy out the surrounding land and relocate the people in the area. The reasons for rejecting the plans were also varied. Some plans were rejected due to high costs. Other plans were rejected due potential environmental effects. One plan was even rejected due to the negative effects it could have on the aesthetics of the watershed. 

Part II 

Berke, Prof Philip R. “Why Is Houston so Vulnerable to Devastating Floods?” BBC News, BBC, i31 Aug. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41107049. 

In this article, the topic of flooding is discussed as well as the reasons for flooding being frequent in Houston. The author of the article is Philip R. Berke, who is stated in the article to be a “Professor of Land Use and Environmental Planning at Texas A&M University,” which would suggest that the author is more knowledgeable on the topic and therefore more reliable. The first thing Berke points out is the large growth that Houston has had. Berke states that while the large growth itself may not directly cause floods to be more frequent, it has caused Houston to have poor land management, as Houston currently prefers “light touch controls, which has led to haphazard development” (par. 10). In addition to this, the author notes that many of the natural habitats have been lost due to humans building on them, such as the we habitat around the White Oak Bayou, which has” lost about 70% of its original wetlands” (par. 15). These habitats, as Berke explains, soaked up water and mitigated flooding, which means that their loss has resulted in less water being soaked up. Finally, Professor Berke notes the funding for roads instead of flood prevention, which only leads to more growth of Houston and thus even worse land management. These points that the author brings up are important, as they suggest that the poor decisions that people make causes flooding to be a more prominent issue. 

Morris, Mike. “Houston’s Sprawling Drainage Project Would Help Hundreds of Homes along White Oak Bayou.” HoustonChronicle.com, Houston Chronicle, 19 Mar. 2018, www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Houston-s-sprawling-drainage-project-would-help-12759536.php#photo-15263041. 

The article, written by Mike Morris, discusses a “dormant drainage project” that he believes could save the lives of many people who live by the White Oak Bayou (par. 1). While Morris may not be a notable figure in terms of knowing about watersheds and flooding, he is knowledgeable in both government and politics according to the bio found below the article. As a result, because his article deals with a previous government project, Morris is a reliable source. The project that is discussed involves building a waterway at the area where the Buffalo Bayou and the White Oak Bayou meet, as water tends to build there and result in flooding. There are several problems that prevent the project from continuing, however, such as the need to acquire land. The land that needs to be acquired includes a “a 14-unit condominium building” that still has residents living in it. This information is useful as it not only serves as an example of a possible plan of flood prevention, but also demonstrates how people being near areas at risk of flood can make flood prevention difficult. 

Muñoz, Leslie; Olivera, Francisco; Giglio, Matthew; Berke, Philip. “The Impact of Urbanization on the Stand the 100-Year Floodplain Extent of the Sims Bayou in Houston, Texas ” Taylor & Francis Online. 12 Sep. 2017 ,https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/doi/full/10.1080/15715124.2017.1372447?scroll=top&needAccess=true  

In this article, the authors discuss a study they performed in order to test whether urbanization and “imperviousness,” or the amount of land that could not absorb water, were related to flooding (par. 2). The article was written by several people, including the previously mentioned Philip Berke, who was established in another article to be a reliable source when it comes to land use. The results of the study discussed in this article found that between the years 1980 and 2000, both the population and imperviousness increased. Alongside this, “annual runoff and peak flows” have also increased, which lead the authors to conclude that increasing imperviousness of the land results in more floods of a more severe level (par. 22). This correlation is useful for me, as it proves that human development makes flooding worse, and suggests that if people were to stop or slow development, flooding would not become worse. 

U.S. Army Engineers District, Galveston Corps of Engineers. “Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries, Texas, Upper White Oak Bayou, Flood Damage Prevention, Draft Environmental Statement” Galveston, Texas 1976, Bayou Preservation Assoc. Records, Box R18, University of Houston Libraries Special Collections 

While doing research in the specials collection of the library at the University of Houston, I came across a report which contained information on a previous plan to prevent flooding and mitigate flood damages along the White Oak Bayou. The report was written by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a group of engineers who work under the U.S. government and have a history of working on waterways and helping take precautions against large storms, which makes this source more reliable. In the report, alongside the plan that was carried out was a list of proposed plans that were rejected. These proposed plans included a project to add a “flood detention reservoir” that would hold excess water to be released later, the redirection of excess water through other channels, and the widening of the earthen channel to be able to hold more water. Other rejected plans included the evacuation of people who were at a risk of flooding and the floodproofing of the buildings in the area. Each of these plans were rejected for different reasons, but of them, the plan to evacuate, the plan for widening the earthen channel, and to floodproof buildings were rejected due to “social problems” that would disturb many people. This helps my essay as it not only tells of several different possible solutions to flooding, but also shows how the placement of people near areas at risk of flood makes preventing floods difficult 

Part III 

In the beginning of my research, I wondered if there was a way floods could be controlled. I wanted to find a way to both prevent flooding and mitigate flood damage. Through my research, I found that there are measures that can be taken in order to make flooding be less of a problem. As Morris points out, a project to prevent flooding was started years ago and could be finished if certain conditions were met. In addition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given a plethora of alternate plans that can be used to allow us combat floods, ranging from redirecting and storing excess water to floodproofing buildings. However, many of these plans become more difficult the more people try to move closer to the floodplains where risk of flooding is higher. As professor Berke notes in the article that was posted on the BBC, as people move closer to the bayous, the harder it is to take actions against floods, as more people means more roads and other “impervious” structures, which as his studies show, results in a higher risk of flood. To add on, more people closer to areas at risk of flood means that when action wants to be taken against floods, more people must be moved to make room for building, which is not an easy task to do. As a result of this, it is my belief that one of the first things that people can do in order to prevent flood damages is to stop moving to areas at risk of flooding until proper action can be taken against the floods.