Enormous amounts of sediment, or sand and mud, flowed through Houston waterways during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, due in part to modifications made by humans to bayous, rivers and streams over the past century, that could seriously impact future flooding events and be costly to the City of Houston.
New analysis by geology researchers at the University of Houston has found that 27 million cubic meters of sediment, or the equivalent of 16 Astrodomes, moved through 12 Houston waterways and Addicks and Barker reservoirs during Harvey, the largest rainfall event in U.S. history.
River straightening, a type of artificial stream modification, is an engineering technique used to shorten the distance to the ocean and increase water flow, which reduces flooding in surrounding areas. Straightening can be as minor as removing bank vegetation or as extreme as replacing the banks and channel floor with concrete. The technique was used on Houston's waterways in the 1940s and '50s and opened development areas for additional homes and buildings.
"If Harvey were to happen again today, there would be less room for water in Addicks and Barker reservoirs because of the sediment that got left behind from Harvey," Wellner said."That's the significance—sediment takes up space no longer available for water." Stearns said there was so much sediment in the waterways due to compounding factors of the deluge of rain and human modifications to the surrounding environment.
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