TEMPLE - Texas is home to more than 2,000 flood control dams, many of which were severely damaged by the extreme rainfall events of May 2015 and October 2015. In November 2015, four organizations from the state of Texas wrote a letter to the entire Texas congressional delegation expressing the need for assistance in repairing the dams that were damaged. The request was made to acquire federal funds to match state and local dollars to put toward the repairs. The Association of Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts (ATSWCD), the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB), the Texas Conservation Association for Water and Soil (TCAWS), and the Texas Association of Watershed Sponsors (TAWS) all strongly advocated for financial assistance to address these needs.
"The flood control dams are critically important in protecting the lives, property, and publically-owned infrastructure during an extreme weather event," stated representatives from ATSWCD, TCAWS, TAWS, and TSSWCB in the letter sent to Congress last November.
As part of the appropriations bill passed by Congress in December 2015, $157 million was made available to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program. The EWP Program was created by Congress to respond to emergencies caused by natural disasters. It is designed to help reduce imminent hazards to life and property threatened by excessive erosion and flooding caused by heavy rains, drought, earthquakes, windstorms, and other natural disasters.
Local soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) in Texas are responsible for maintenance and repairs on these structures, and the TSSWCB assists local SWCDs by providing state funds and facilitating the delivery and leveraging of federal funds when available. Recently, the USDA-NRCS announced that it will invest approximately $5.7 million of the $157 million directly in Texas for flood control dams that need vital repairs as a result of the 2015 events.
The TSSWCB is planning to dedicate $1.7 million of its funding from the Texas Legislature to ensure that all of the federal funding is adequately matched and utilized. Through EWP, the USDA-NRCS also made an additional $21 million available in Texas to help remove debris and stabilize streambanks after the extreme weather events damaged culverts, bridges, roads, and flooded drainage systems.
Rex Isom, who serves as both TSSWCB’s Executive Director, as well as the Vice-Chairman of the National Watershed Coalition (NWC), was a strong advocate for this request. "The fact that the Texas Legislature had the wisdom to fund a flood control dam program in Texas has increased the likelihood of the local governments that sponsor these structures, will have the resources they need to receive the federal funds. The EWP Program requires that 25% of the total cost of a repair project come from non- federal sources."
TSSWCB’s Chairman, Scott Buckles added, "While we have an important state-funded program that stands on its own for maintenance and repair activities, the presence of the federal dollars make the state appropriations go much further."
The NWC advocates are using total resource management principles in planning. They also believe that the USDA-NRCS assisted watershed program, under which Texas’ 2,000 flood control dams were created are among the best planning and implementation vehicles available for wise water and land management. Dan Sebert, Executive Director of NWC said, "Texas’ state-funded program provides the necessary connection between the federal programs and the local sponsor entities. Texas is setting an excellent example for the rest of the nation in addressing natural resource needs, including the importance of flood control."
The TSSWCB’s flood control programs provide grants to local sponsors of flood control dams to address minor operation and maintenance needs where 90% of the cost comes from the state, and more elaborate structural repair grants that are covered by the state at 95%. When federal dollars are available through EWP, the state’s share is lessened to 25% or less. For more information on the agency’s program, go to http://www.tsswcb.texas.gov/floodcontrol.