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TSSWCB Awards Flood Control Grant to Local Soil and Water Conservation District

TEMPLE - Last week the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) committed funding to the Navarro Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to help match federal dollars from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program for needed repairs to flood control dams. Navarro County experienced its second 500-year rainfall event in the last five years, and the SWCD expects to find more damage to at least 20 flood control dams within the county.

These flood control dams were built to protect lives and property by reducing flood damages during large rainfall events. About 2,000 flood control dams have been built in Texas through the USDA-NRCS Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program. Over 400 of these dams are classified as "high hazard", which means there is potential for loss of life if the dam should breach or fail. After the dams were built, local watershed sponsors (SWCDs, cities, counties, water control and improvement districts, and other special purpose districts) agreed to operate, maintain, and repair the dams to ensure that flood control benefits would continue to protect local citizens.

Rex Isom, TSSWCB’s Executive Director, said the agency’s program "provides grants to local watershed program sponsors to assist in conducting basic maintenance and structural repair of the dams. Whenever federal funds are available through EWP or the NRCS Watershed Rehabilitation Program, the TSSWCB places top priority in helping fund the local sponsor's share of project cost."

Bobby Wilson with the Navarro SWCD said without these cost-sharing grants, local sponsors would not be able to perform the necessary maintenance, repair, and upgrade of the dams.

NRCS was able to secure a limited amount of funding through the EWP Program, and the TSSWCB’s funds will assist in providing a portion of the local sponsor’s share of the project.

Navarro County is not the only area hard hit in recent months. Texas counties impacted totaled 34 and included Austin, Bastrop, Blanco, Burleson, Caldwell, Calhoun, Clay, Collin, Comal, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fort Bend, Gonzales, Grayson, Guadalupe, Harris, Hays, Hill, Jack, Kendall, Lamar, Lee, Montague, Red River, Refugio, Victoria, Washington, Williamson, Wilson and Wise. Texas NRCS requested $15.2 million in EWP funds for counties covered by a Presidential declaration (Stafford Act), and $1.6 million for counties that suffered damage, but were not included in the Presidential declaration.

In October, Hurricane Patricia brought extra moisture and instability to Texas. Counties impacted the hardest included Navarro, Hill, Travis, and Hays. Information and data is still being gathered and assembled. Texas NRCS requested EWP funds for a non-Stafford Act disaster. This request was submitted to NRCS national headquarters to potentially assist sponsors with critical needs associated with floodwater retention structures in Navarro County. As of November 3, about 45 out of the 99 dams in Navarro County have been checked. Washed out roads and debris continue to hinder assessment and recovery efforts. The October storms were extreme, however, were more limited geographically than those in May. Based on past experience, it is anticipated that sponsor requests for EWP funding for this event will be in an estimated range of $10 million once all damage can be assessed. (Note – These preliminary numbers do not re­flect or affect any official requests.)

All together, there are more than $26 million in total needs across the state as of the most recent storms in October, but according to all forecasters, more record rainfall is on the way throughout the remainder of this year and into next summer. TSSWCB, the Association of Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Texas Conservation Association for Water and Soil, and the Texas Association of Watershed Sponsors recently sent requests for assistance to the Texas Congressional delegation in acquiring more federal EWP funding into Texas.

Isom says the agency will continue to focus on the most critical repair needs with the available state funding, but will also continue to leverage federal funds when they become available. Since 2010, the TSSWCB has assisted local sponsors with more than $16 million in maintenance activities and more than $33 million on extensive repair on 21 structures. Currently the agency is using $11.3 million in state grant funds to assist local government sponsors with matching $32 million in federal funds for dam rehabilitation, in addition to the most recent grant to Navarro SWCD for EWP assistance. Statewide, there were an additional $72 million in known repair needs prior to this year’s events, $12 million in known maintenance needs, and $600 million in known rehabilitation needs to upgrade the construction of 317 dams that were built to low hazard design criteria, but are now classified as high hazard.

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