Bohac Updates Community on Progress of Brickhouse Gully Detention Basin

HOUSTON - State Representative Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) is pleased to announce that the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) continues to make progress on the Brickhouse Gully stormwater detention basin.

“Soon we will see trucks, and dirt will be moving,” Bohac said.

Engineers are currently reviewing final plans and specifications and expect to advertise for construction bids in October 2007 - just two months from now. Construction on the basin is expected to begin in early 2008.

“I am pleased at the progress HCFCD is making,” Bohac said. “For my friends in Oak Forest and Mangum Manor near Brickhouse Gully, this detention pond can’t come soon enough. However, the fruit of everyone’s labor is about to grow.”

The basin will be located on 16 acres on the west side of Highway 290 between West 43rd and West 34th streets. It is designed to reduce flooding primarily in the flood-prone Mangum Manor subdivision during a 25-year flood, a 10-year flood and floods of greater frequency. The basin will safely store stormwater that might otherwise flood homes and businesses.

The basin also will contain water quality features, such as wetland plants like cattails and sedges. These will act as biofilters, removing sediment and pollutants from stormwater before it returns to the channel. Almost anything placed on the ground ends up washing into a bayou: oil dripping from a leaking engine, lawn fertilizers, pesticides and pet waste. Wetlands plants absorb these toxins, leaving behind cleaner water. Tiny living animals in the soil feed off of their roots, removing pollutants or changing them into less harmful substances. Water trickling through the basin will be cleaned by these plants’ extensive root systems and microorganisms, providing cleaner runoff for residents downstream. The plants also will create a new wetlands wildlife habitat for the area.

“The basin will not only function from the practical standpoint of temporarily storing excess waterfall, but it will help clean the environment as well,” Bohac said. “Area residents will now have both greater flood protection and a cleaner Brickhouse Gully.”

Construction of the basin will cost an estimated $2.5 million, and approximately 192,000 cubic yards of soil will be excavated for stormwater detention.

In addition to this, the HCFCD has recently completed replacing failed concrete slope paving along the banks of Brickhouse Gully from White Oak Bayou to 250-feet upstream of Watonga Boulevard and is preparing to continue repairs between Watonga and Costa Rica Street. This project will cost an estimated $3 million and will be divided into two separate projects.

“This issue has been at the top of my local quality of life agenda for quite some time,” said Bohac. “Past floods and the scare of Hurricane Rita have not been forgotten and I am thrilled and relieved to see that construction will begin soon.”

Brickhouse Gully extends from Gessner and Clay roads, runs east between Clay (43rd Street) and Kempwood (34th Street) and intersects White Oak Bayou in the Watonga area. Many areas in the watershed have experienced flooding from Tropical Storm Frances in 1998, Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and other torrential rains.