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Policy
What is Watershed Policy and why should the BPA care about it?Watershed Policy, broadly speaking, is what regulates both public and private activities within our watersheds, primarily through the use of codes and ordinances, through the establishment of minimum or maximum standards, and the setting of budgets.Watershed Policy sounds like a very dry subject, but is, ironically, what ultimately dictates what happens to rainwater after it falls from the sky onto our urban and suburban watersheds. If we don’t pay attention to public policy and don’t try to manage it to better protect our streams and bayous and to protect the quality of the bayou corridor and the water that flows within it, we will be forever condemned to fighting small, losing battles against changes that damage and degrade our streams and bayous. Watershed Policy is for the most part public policy, policy that is managed by public bodies. Good Watershed Policy is shaped by an understanding many disciplines: civil engineering, hydrology and hydraulics, land planning, public law (Federal, State, and local Municipal law), and ecological and environmental sciences to name a few. Good Watershed Policy will provide many benefits, from reduced flood damages, to better water quality, to improved green and open space for the community. In the Houston region, which has one of the worst records for repetitive flood damage claims, one of the primary goals of good policy should be the immediate cessation of any increase in flood damages due to public or private construction (new development or re-development) and the gradual reduction of historic flood damages by appropriate public and private investment in watershed management tools. The BPA firmly believes that effective flood damage reduction efforts can simultaneously create opportunities to increase the quality of the channels, streams and bayous that carry off the storm flows during a rainfall event. This can mean improvements in water quality, in the vegetation along the streams; it can mean providing trails and parkland along the bayous and floodplains, and it can mean significant open space in the form of well designed regional and local stormwater detention basins. The BPA has advocated for better Watershed Policy by sponsoring educational forums and conferences, by publishing white papers on the subject, and by directly working with public policy makers to change current ordinances and policies. This web site includes a sampling of written materials; you will find overlap between some of the contents since they were written for different purposes. The BPA is interested in your thoughts and comments about these very important issues. Background Information: What’s a Watershed and Why Should I Care? is an overview of the role and importance of watersheds in our urban landscape and why it is important to understand them. Hydrology, Nature and People is a descriptive list of the many challenges and opportunities that face the region as we grow into the 21st Century and suggests that the needs of hydrology (drainage), Nature (all the living things around us) and People (that’s us) should and can all come together to make our bayous Houston’s defining natural and cultural features. BPA Watershed Tools is an outline guide to the various tools and methods that should be available to all who participate in effecting changes to our watersheds (and that’s most of us, from small gardeners and homeowners to giant developers and municipalities). Click the links to view a graph and pie chart on water storage. Are You Likely to Flood? is a guide to how you can determine your flood risk. Click the link to view County-City Claims Map BPA Advocacy Position Papers: Kitchen on Fire! is a short cry for recognition that we are often arguing about small issues when the biggest and most important issue is being ignored: municipal watershed management! City of Houston and Time for Change is a description of the changes the BPA thinks the City needs to make to protect its citizens from flood damages. Floodplain and Watershed Questions is a list of questions and case studies to clarify the need for changes to the City of Houston’s watershed and drainage ordinances. We’ve Been Flooded and We’re Angry is a form letter from a flooded neighborhood to the City’s elected officials. BPA Watershed Policy Draft is a summary of the BPA’s positions on watershed management policies. Submitted by: Kevin Shanley Chairman of the Board The Bayou Preservation Association November 2005 |
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"Protecting and restoring the richness and diversity of our waterways" Bayou Preservation Association
3201 Allen Parkway, Suite 200 P.O. Box 131563 Houston, Texas 77219-1563 telephone 713.529.6443 fax 713.529.6481 email: bpa@bayoupreservation.org |
