To kick-start engineering studies for a proposed detention basin project in the Cypress Creek watershed, Harris County Water Control and Improvement District No. 110 is negotiating an interlocal agreement with the Harris County Flood Control District, the entities announced during an Oct. 26 meeting.
“It's an ideal opportunity [that] has been presented to us for immediate action to be taken to curb flooding along Cypress Creek east and again west of [I-45],” WCID 110 Secretary Vanessa Sommer said.
The studies will be conducted for three proposed stormwater detention basins located on the east side of I-45, south of Cypresswood Drive and north of FM 1960. The studies for the project are expected to cost $1 million, which will be funded equally by the HCFCD and WCID 110, and are expected to take about one year to complete.
“This study is being expedited by an interlocal agreement with [the HCFCD],” John Davis of Langford Engineering said. “That's what we're trying to do is speed this project up and get it on HCFCD's—[and] hopefully the state's [and] hopefully the [county] precinct's—radar, quickly.”
The first phase of construction of the basins would cost an estimated $11 million, according to WCID 110, which the entity officials said they are hoping would be funded through all impacted local utility districts and matching funds from the HCFCD. The total cost of constructing the three basins was estimated at $55.2 million by engineering firm Jones & Carter, which completed the Cypress Creek Program Implementation Plan.
The three stormwater detention basins targeted by the project were identified by the Cypress Creek Program Implementation Plan, which was released in January. Combined, the basins would provide about 1,057 acre-feet of water storage.
The three basins targeted by WCID 110 and the HCFCD’s studies are basins 10, 11, and 12—also known as Senger SDB, South, North and West—in the report.
“This area is undeveloped, and it is an ideal location to construct regional drainage facilities to mitigate flooding along Cypress Creek on the east and west sides of I-45,” Sommer said.
As previously reported by Community Impact, Jones & Carter was awarded the project for $1.4 million by Harris County Commissioners Court in July 2020.
This project is not connected to the Cypress Creek drainage district proposed in June by community group The Cypress Creek Flooding Task Force. The drainage district has yet to be proposed by legislators and voted on by Spring-area residents.
