Overview
Bisnow’s Houston State of the Market 2018 hosted panels last week, one of which discussed the war on stormwater. The panel included: Walter P Moore Senior Principal & Director of Civil Engineering Charlie Penland, Harris County Flood Control District Director Hydrologic Operations Division/Meteorologist Jeff Lindner, Harris County Engineering Department County Engineer John Blount, CivilTech Engineering Inc. President and CEO Melvin Spinks, City of Houston Chief Resilience Officer Stephen Costello and Sherwood Design Engineers principal Steve Albert, who moderated.
“The trouble with a fragmented approach is that stormwater doesn’t know anything about political boundaries. It goes where it goes without regard to political considerations.
The key to defending the region against flooding, the speakers said, is regional cooperation. Unfortunately, that is difficult for a number of reasons.
One is that even a flood like Harvey affects only a relatively small percentage of the community. Coverage of the storm gave the world the impression that all of Houston flooded — which is a problem by itself — but that of course wasn’t the case.”
