The city of Pearland is in the process of improving the drainage system around Wagon Trail Road after heavy rainfalls in the spring and early summer caused flooding at local businesses in the area.

The Pearland Chamber of Commerce helped affected businesses, such as A & A Cleaning Services and A-Better Plumbing Company, coordinate with the city to address the issue in July, chamber officials said.

“When we had the heavy rains late in the spring, water was getting into these businesses [on Wagon Trail Road],” said Michael Leech, Pearland assistant director of public works. “They came to the city and said, ‘What can we do about this?’”

Leech is part of a task force that has been organized to address the problem. The group consists of representatives from Brazoria Drainage District No. 4—which manages nearby Mary’s Creek—a civil engineering firm hired by the city, the chamber and area business owners, Leech said.

The drainage system around Wagon Trail Road, which Leech estimates was first created in the 1930s or ’40s, handles stormwater for about 120 acres of land. The area, which is between FM 518 and Mary’s Creek, includes houses as well as several businesses.

“One of the first things you need to do is to determine what areas are going into that drainage system,” Leech said. “We hired a civil engineering firm with a hydrologist to help us determine what areas are all going in there.”

Likening the situation to rapidly pouring a large bucket of water into a small funnel, Leech said the system in place could not adequately handle a high rate of rainfall. All the area’s drainage flows in a circuitous route first toward FM 518 and then south toward Mary’s Creek, Leech said.

“What we have, basically, is quite a bit of acreage going into a drainage system that isn’t very big,” he said. “The next step is to determine what we do with all this water.”

Leech said the city is in the planning process of the project. Preliminary solutions included cleaning the drainage system’s ditches. Leech said he hopes there are other quick, cost-effective ways to address the problem, such as widening the ditches.

The answer could also be a more complex and long-term project, such as digging up the road or installing an enclosed storm sewer system. The task force has not yet decided on the best solution or a funding source, Leech said.

“We’re hoping that there’s some [easy solution] that we can implement quickly, but we’re also mindful of the possibility that it could be a pretty invasive recommendation that could cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars,” he said.