Subsidence is a lowering of the land surface elevation.
So, in our area, because we're coastal and relatively flat,
any small changes in land surface,
and particularly with the dropping, can have a big impact on flooding in our area.
Our mission is to prevent subsidence.
And the challenging thing with subsidence that we have is
it's caused by compaction in the aquifer.
And once that compaction occurs, we can't ever undo that.
So we want to get out in front of it.
We've had an area in the Houston area that subsided upwards of almost 12 feet.
But right now, we've been able to arrest that
with the reduction of groundwater use and moving on to alternative sources.
We're going through that process right now in other parts of Harris County,
in northern and western parts of Harris County.
And those are the areas that are actively subsiding today.
We're excited to have the Water Development Board
staff here
to show them about the successes that we've had in regulating groundwater
and preventing subsidence in parts of the district.
And as we move forward
with conversion in the northern
and western parts of our district, how incredibly important
it is to continue that collaboration, to continue that development
of that infrastructure so that we can
reduce the reliance on groundwater and prevent subsidence in those areas.
The work that we
do is really aimed at first identifying
where are those flood challenges, where is flooding occurring
that's impacting people, and then identifying solutions.
Another big challenge that we have is finding the funding to do this work
because the magnitude of the challenges that we have is very significant.
And in order for us to do this work, it takes a lot of money
and a lot of commitment, and a lot of partnerships.
We were really, really grateful for the opportunity to first,
you know, host the Water Development Board at our facility and then welcome
Director Stepney
and take her around and show her some of the projects
that the flood control district is implementing.
I think what is really important
about this visit is we know that the Water Development Board recently took on flood
planning as a responsibility in the last several years,
and we really welcome the opportunity to show the type of projects
that we're building and also demonstrate one of the projects
that's actually under construction right now
that is being funded by the Water Development Board.
The Northeast Water Purification Plant
expansion, it's one of the largest projects
within the United States of America that will take our current plant—
which produces about 80 million gallons of water per day
and expand it to about 400 million gallons a day—
that provides water to the Houston region.
The TWDB board will be able to see the enormous effort
that it takes to complete a project of this magnitude.
When you're here in person, it's almost like a shock and awe factor
at the significant amount of effort that goes into a project like this,
and looking at about 1,500 people working together for a singular purpose
on getting this project completion.
So absolutely, I think it's absolutely beneficial
for the TWDB board to come out and see what we're actually doing.
You all have been incredible hosts.
When we decided to start these traveling road
shows about six months ago, our first stop was Harlingen,
because they have very specific issues that the Board has helped with.
And our second stop had to be Houston. It's been a great 24 hours.
We'll get back to Austin fresh with new ideas on how to help these communities.
And I just thank you for that.