Corps exploring excavation of reservoirs
Project could double stormwater capacity for Addicks, Barker
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is quietly exploring the possibility of excavating dirt from Addicks and Barker reservoirs, reviving an oft-discussed proposal that would allow the reservoirs to hold more stormwater and keep it out of nearby Houston neighborhoods.
Depending on the scope of the project, removing silt and dirt could increase the reservoirs’ capacity significantly, perhaps even doubling it, by one Corps official’s rough estimate. Whether the agency moves forward could depend in part on whether it can find someone to take all the dirt.
Addicks and Barker Dams were sculpted from the Katy prairie more than 70 years ago to protect downtown Houston from devastating floods. The dams were designed to hold storm water for brief periods before releasing it into Buffalo Bayou.
But development downstream of the dams forced the Corps to restrict releases of water into the bayou. At the same time, rapid development to the north and west paved over prairie and ranch land, causing more runoff to flow into the reservoirs. As a result, Addicks and Barker are storing larger volumes of water than their designers intended, and for longer periods.
That has stressed the aging earthen dams. It also has heightened the risk of flooding for communities adjacent to the reservoirs. Since the reservoirs are not bounded by walls or banks, water can spill beyond their boundaries during intense
storms.
When Hurricane Harvey struck last August, more than 9,000 homes and businesses were inundated by reservoir water. That’s on top of the tens of thousands of properties damaged or destroyed by overflowing bayous, rivers and creeks, and by water released through the outlet works at Addicks and Barker Dams.
The idea of excavating the reservoirs to remove accumulated silt and dirt has been a fixture of official reports and politicians’ to-do lists for more than 20 years. Thanks to Harvey, its time may finally have arrived.
In a notice posted on the internet, the Army Corps said it “is evaluating the level of interest from government, industry, and others parties for the excavation and removal of alluvial soils deposited within” the reservoirs.
“The concept of the potential project is to allow for the beneficial use of material by interested parties while increasing capacity” at Addicks and Barker, the notice said.
It appeared Jan. 24, with no public announcement, on a website that advertises business opportunities with the federal government. ‘A market for dirt’
Corps officials won’t say anything further about their plans, including how much soil would be excavated, how much it would cost or who would pay.
The Chronicle’s requests for information were referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. A spokesman there declined to comment, citing lawsuits filed by homeowners seeking compensation from the government for damage caused by reservoir flooding.
Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack, whose Precinct 3 includes the reservoirs and areas upstream and downstream, said deepening the reservoirs would be a “wonderful thing,” although the Army Corps has not discussed it with him.
“There’s no doubt that the original capacity is definitely down from when it was dug because of all the silting that has taken place,” Radack said.
The Corps’ notice asks those interested in the soil to estimate how much they would remove, how they would excavate it and where they would eventually put it.
The government shouldn’t have trouble finding interested parties if the dirt is of a certain quality, according to David Falgere.
He’s director of pre-construction for Slack & Co. Contracting Inc., which does excavation and grading at construction sites in the Houston area.
“There’s always a market for dirt,” he said. “The thing about dirt work for those of us who do it for a living: It’s either ‘I’ve got too much dirt, what do I do with it?’ or ‘I need dirt and can’t get enough.’”
The level of interest in the dirt in Barker and Addicks depends on what kind it is. Some types of soil are used for the base level of commercial buildings, Falgere explained. Others are ideal for freeway embankments. Still other types of soil may be useless. A geotechnical engineer would have to test the reservoir dirt to determine its best use.
Christopher Sallese, former commander of the Army Corps’ Galveston District, which oversees Addicks and Barker, said the excavation project has the potential to be a bargain for both the government and private construction interests.
“If you’re a developer and you need a couple million yards of material to improve a site, then you could potentially take advantage of this material that’s there and the government gets the material removed,” Sallese said. ‘Huge improvement’
In an interview with the Chronicle last year, Edmond J. Russo Jr., deputy district engineer in the Galveston District, said “crude estimates” indicated that excavation could double the capacity of Addicks and Barker.
“If we could increase the storage by double, that would be a huge improvement,” Russo said. “Part of the idea would be, ‘How do we couple that excavation scheme with the needs of the regional Houston development needs in terms of construction fill? Could we offer those materials for a beneficial use, and also get storage capacity increase at the same time?’”
When it built Addicks and Barker damsin the 1940s, the government acquired 25,000 acres of woods and wetland, an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan, to serve as reservoirs.
That was enough to contain a 100-year flood within Addicks reservoir and a 70year flood within Barker. But the dams are capable of holding back an even larger volume of water; engineers call it the “maximum pool.”
The area between the government-owned reservoirs and the maximum pool is called “the fringe.” The danger of flooding in the fringe during an extreme storm escaped wide public notice, and over the years thousands of homes and businesses sprung up there.
Since the early 1990s, the Army Corps and local agencies have studied ways of protecting those areas. A 1995 Corps analysis said that deepening Barker Reservoir enough to contain a 100-year flood would require removing more than 11 million cubic yards of dirt. Excavating even a very small area would cost $11 million, the report said.
The Corps concluded that the expense outweighed the projected benefits and pronounced the proposal “nonviable ... from the standpoint of economics.”
That was in 1995. Things look different today.
Harvey inflicted severe damage on neighborhoods in the reservoirs’ fringe, and many are still reeling.
Gail Bullock, 77, said his home of 14 years in the Bear Creek Village subdivision had never flooded until Harvey, when reservoir water backed up into his home, ruining the walls, appliances, furniture and clothes. The damage totaled more than $100,000, Bullock said.
The walls are back now. But Bullock is still waiting on new doors and trim. ‘Show me. Do it’
Bullock said he has heard public officials call for excavating the reservoirs for at least a decade, including after 2016’s Tax Day floods, when water filled the streets of Bear Creek Village.
“They have been talking about dredging out and making it bigger for years,” Bullock said. “Show me. Do it, then tell me, because I do not believe them.”
A block away, Ryan Robinson, 38, still hasn’t regained his footing since Harvey, when he and his family were rescued by boat by volunteers known as the Cajun Navy. In the month that followed, Robinson lost his job as an HVAC technician. After repairing his home, he is broke, he said.
Government engineers should figure out how to prevent the reservoirs from overflowing again, whether through excavation or other measures, he said.
“That’s their job,” Robinson said. “Do your job. Don’t let it happen again.”
He pointed up and down his street, where piles of sheet rock and rubble sat outside at least a dozen homes. “This isn’t right,” he said.