The San Antonio City Council voted Thursday to adapt to increasingly heavy rainstorms by incorporating the most recent data on flooding into the city’s development code.
Council members approved the code update 9-0, with Councilman Rey Saldaña (D4) and Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran (D3) absent for the vote. The approval means engineers designing channels, retention ponds, and other drainage features must incorporate the latest data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA’s analysis, published as Atlas 14, Volume 11, shows that heavy rainstorms have become more frequent across Texas than originally thought. It relies on rainfall data from thousands of weather stations across Texas.
“This is one of those examples of the climate changing, the best data showing us what’s happening to rainfall, and us adapting to that to ensure that our population and our development is safe going forward,” Councilwoman Ana Sandoval (D7) said before the vote.
Atlas 14 is mentioned in the City-led Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, which has drawn flurries of controversy over some of its proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. City Council’s vote on the plan has been postponed until fall.
The proposal to incorporate the new rainfall data into the building codes drew far less heat. Nefi Garza, assistant director of the City’s Transportation and Capital Improvements department, and his staff were able to gain the support of private-sector groups like Professional Engineers in Private Practice (PEPP) and the Real Estate Council of San Antonio (RECSA).
“We believe the proposed rollout plan for Atlas 14 is fair and reasonable and does not create undue financial burden on developers or unreasonable design for engineers,” wrote RECSA President Cara Tackett, a senior vice president of Pape-Dawson Engineers. “We understand the Atlas 14 data is a function of NOAA, and not the City of San Antonio, and therefore your actions should … be applauded.”
The City’s current design manual considers a 100-year storm to be 10 inches of rain over 24 hours. According to the NOAA study, a 100-year storm is now considered to range from 11.14 inches in southern Bexar County to 12.88 inches in northern Bexar County.
Even before NOAA’s recent data-crunching, San Antonio has long been considered part of Central Texas’ Flash Flood Alley. Bexar County leads the state in the number of flash flood deaths, with 68 people dying in floodwaters between 1959 and 2008, according to University of Texas at San Antonio research.
The change in the building codes likely will increase the costs of drainage projects, not only for local governments, but also private developers. Garza said local officials began meeting with the private sector in May 2018 to talk through the changes.
In letters to City staff, PEPP and RECSA leaders expressed support for how the City handled the new rainfall totals.
“The multiple meetings your staff held with the engineering and stakeholder groups in the City should help make the transition to the new criteria as smooth as can be expected,” wrote PEPP Chairman Eric Neuner, a manager at Raba-Kistner Consultants.
Garza told council members that he and his staff “made the decision to stick to our code,” which requires drainage structures to be more than capable of handling a 100-year storm.
“Our 100-year storm is changing, but we’re not going beyond [the code],” Garza said.
SA suffers 100-year storms every 5-10 years. They should base new regulations on the flood models generated last year showing what would have happened if Hurricane Harvey had headed straight towards us. Then we’d deffinitely be safe the next time a bad storm hits.
For successful flood drainage control, the right hand must know what the left hand is doing.
In planning flood drainage, Bexar County and the City Drainage Department must not forget to include recharge of the Edwards Aquifer.
The Edwards Aquifer Authority, along with input from stakeholders, should designate unaltered and altered recharge locations.
Altered recharge locations should be designated based on factors such as benefit of flood for control, benefit of increasing recharge volume, and, and quality of recharge water.
Altered recharge locations should include bringing back wetlands for improving wildlife, and, for recharge of the Edwards Aquifer.
Stakeholders include the San Antonio Parks and Recreation, which manages the majority of wetlands, Howard Peak Greenway Trail System.
what about the flood plains for people who own homes or thinking about buying
The city needs to abandon the “Army Corp of Engineers” mentally of channeling and clearing.
I live in the transition zone with 2 wetlands, one we are pretty sure has a spring, and have provided a complete stormwater park and linear greenway connecting Friesenhahn Park all the way to Thousand Oaks along Tributary F of the Salado. It deals directly with the massive water that is channeled out of the neighborhoods, including stormwater features to help retain the water to allow for maximum absorption. This will not only assist in preventing the flooding of Stahl Road, but also only uses city land with the extra bonus of an important link to connect with the Salado Greenway. Hoping they will consider it.
Council Woman says the Atlas Report updates for climate change. Not true. The report itself cites better instrumentation and more accurate record keeping.
Why keep perpetuating lie? Climate change science has been proven to be deliberately falsified.