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from the Fall 2006 Building Better Report
Correcting Mistakes of the Past
 In the race for urbanization, Houston's Harris County lost many of its estimated 800 miles of bayous to artificial, concrete gulches that moved water - and the pollution in it - quickly to Galveston Bay, destroying water quality. High concentrations of fecal coliform and increased nitrate nitrogen levels have forced the closing of about one-half of the Bay's shellfish harvesting areas. (1) However, an array of local partners including the City of Houston and Harris County are now taking action to address polluted stormwater runoff, the top water quality problem facing the Bay, by creating new wetlands.
Mason Park Project
Constructed through a partnership between the Harris County Flood Control District, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Houston Parks Department, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a new 3.5 acre wetland area at Houston's Mason Park serves as a filter for runoff from a 30-acre urban residential watershed. Where a stormwater culvert once dumped polluted runoff directly into the bayou, now three terraced ponds with native plantings seek to re-create a freshwater marsh that existed in the area nearly 50 years ago. (2)
 This marsh, which helps hold and cleanse water before it makes its way on to the Bay, is part of a pilot project that will eventually lead to the creation of a series of wetlands along the length of Brays Bayou. The Mason Park project is one of several efforts that began after recent severe floods, to address flooding along Brays Bayou by using re-created wetlands as an effective means of slowing and cleaning large volumes of stormwater.
Improving Habitat
Not only will the project help control stormwater pollution, it will also provide habitat for fish and wildlife. Birds such as ibis, white pelicans, osprey, heron and egrets that are found in the area will flock to the restored marsh and fish will use the natural freshwater marsh as a nursery. (3)
Community Involvement and Partnerships
Students from Chavez and Austin High Schools spent months planting natural vegetation on the Mason Park site, (4) which will serve as a laboratory they will use to see natural science in action. Eventually the project will even include an outdoor education area for classes. (5)
In 2006, the Harris County Flood Control District was honored for its work on the Brays Bayou Tidal Marsh Project, by the non-profit "Park People" organization. Park People is "dedicated to promoting the importance of parks and green space" in Houston. (6)
Innovative Work in Harris County
In addition to the 3.5 acre wetland at Mason Park, significant work in and around Houston to protect its bayous is being done by the Harris County Flood Control District. These significant projects include a multiple use detention basin called the Hill at Sims Greenway, where existing dirt has been sculpted into hills, and where a trail system and recreational facility is being established. (7)
This project - and the overall 19-mile work on the Sims Bayou Main Channel - is a tremendous move away from the typical "concrete ditch" system. The Main Channel work, which was started in 1992, includes no concrete and instead has a gentler, more natural and sloping channel. Thousands of trees were planted along the bayou and the work preserved existing trees. Other innovative detention facilities have been constructed in the White Oak Bayou watershed and on the northwest side of Houston.
Promise for a Cleaner Watershed
The pioneering work that occurred in Harris County to advocate for, and construct, the Mason Park wetland, the Hill at Sims Greenway, and other projects is a step toward reducing the threat of flooding as well as cleaning up polluted runoff into Galveston Bay's tributaries. With more marshland restoration planned in the regional watershed, there is good movement toward reversing some of the past environmental damage that was done to the waterways. Managing urban watersheds and creating more natural stormwater filters is a key to improving overall water quality in Houston.
Footnotes:
- "Water and Sediment Quality Priority Problems," Galveston Bay Estuary Program.
- Bayou Beat. Harris County Flood Control District newsletter. Volume 2, Issue 1. Spring 2005.
- Bayou Beat. Volume 2, Issue 1. Spring 2005.
- Blair, Kimberly. "Harris County Flood Control District Honored," Houston Chronicle. March 30, 2006.
- Dawson, Bill. "Return to Bayou City," Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. December 2005.
- www.parkpeople.org
- Eric Olson phone interview with Evelyn Merz, July 31, 2006
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