Overcoming Inundation in The Woodlands San Jacinto River Authority Operations During Hurricane Harvey Not many water agencies have to grapple with 20,000-year flood events. Last August, Hurricane Harvey inundated much of southern Texas with record-breaking rainfall, posing significant challenges to drinking water delivery and wastewater treatment. The staff of the San Jacinto River Authority’s (SJRA) Woodlands Division, however, took those challenges in stride, providing seamless operations over the span of the storm.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SAN JACINTO RIVER AUTHORITY.
The Authority SJRA oversees the water resources of the San Jacinto River basin across seven counties just north of Houston, Texas. SJRA’s Woodlands Division is a wholesaler of drinking water and wastewater treatment services to the Woodlands Joint Powers Agency (WJPA), which is the central management agency for the area’s 11 municipal utility districts. The Woodlands Division operates and maintains 3 regional wastewater treatment plants, a wastewater conveyance system with 30 lift stations, and a regional water system with 5 drinking water plants, 38 water wells, several elevated and ground storage tanks, and miles of potable water distribution lines. Harvey's Arrival As all tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean do, Harvey started off the west coast of Africa. It veered west toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula
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MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
