With more than $11 million in taxpayer dollars on the line, Harris County Precinct 3 is piloting two flood control projects aimed at improving drainage via detention ponds at Cypress Park off North Eldridge Parkway, and Deputy Darren Goforth Park off Barker Cypress Road.

“We now have another tool in our toolbox to help prepare for when a storm event happens,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said. “We are using every technique we know about to try to keep water in the creek and out of people’s homes.”

How it works

At Cypress Park, the county is installing a manually-operated valve system that allows crews to lower the pond’s water level ahead of major storms. The $6.7 million project is designed to reduce flooding from Cypress Creek by creating extra capacity in the pond before rain hits.

Ramsey said the process begins two to three days before a forecasted storm, when county crews open the valve to drain the pond at a rate of about 28,000 gallons per minute, creating extra space to hold incoming rain.

“It’s a simple concept with great impact,” Ramsey said. “You will literally keep water out of homes and out of flooding streets.”

The Cypress Park detention pond can hold up to 120 acre-feet of water, equivalent to about 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools, Ramsey said.Construction recently started on Precinct 3’s second pilot pond enhancement project at Goforth Park, where officials are installing a pump system to provide additional detention for Horsepen Creek.

Once complete, the Goforth Park detention pond will hold up to 250 acre-feet of water, enough to fill 121 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Ramsey said crews will pump the water level down between storms to create storage space ahead of the next rainfall.Quote of note

“I would just like the public to know that we’re not just sitting here doing what we did 20 years ago. We’re trying to figure out how we can maximize the facilities we have in a way that does help in major storm events, so when they say, ‘Well, we voted on the bonds in 2018; we really hadn’t seen a whole lot of improvements.’ There are a lot of projects being done. ... I think we’re making much progress,” Ramsey said.

What’s next

The Cypress Park project is expected to be completed by May, while construction at Goforth Park is scheduled to finish by the end of 2025. Ramsey said Precinct 3 will monitor the performance of both sites and use watershed models based on past storms such as Hurricane Harvey, Ike and Allison to identify other areas where similar detention strategies could be effective.