Bigger and better pumping capabilities for the new year
Published 5:55 pm Tuesday, January 2, 2018
By Lorenzo Salinas
As the new year begins, business remains much the same for the men and women at Jefferson County Drainage District 7 — namely that of storm water drainage and clean outfall elimination — albeit at a larger, better rate.
“The process is going to be slow. We’re always wanting to improve,” Phil Kelley, DD7 manager, said.
Among a regular routine of maintenance, repairs and improvements for the district’s stations and assorted equipment, Kelley pointed to ongoing projects like Alligator Bayou Pump Station Annex in Port Arthur as a sign of the district’s commitment to greater pumping capacities.
The Annex Project when completed would house six massive pumps that would each pump 250,000 gallons of water per minute. Kelley said the additional pump facility would pump 1.5 million GPM in addition to the 2.25 million GPM pumped by the main Alligator Bayou Pump Station.
Kelley said the district had always wanted to add more pumping capacity and smaller pumps every day. The district has 20 stations, 281 miles of concrete and earthen outfall ditches and 36 miles of levee and seawalls under its jurisdiction.
Upon completion of the annex station and with it taking some of the load off the main station, Kelley said the annex would allow work crews to take down whole units at the main facility and perform extensive inspection and maintenance on pumps that are 40 years old.
Kelley said the Alligator Bayou Pump Station is the only station where maintenance crews are sent every day.
As a general look at where the district has been since Harvey brought historic flooding to many areas of Southeast Texas, Kelley expressed overall satisfaction with the district’s efforts to reach out and educate the public on what DD7 is, what it does and what its responsibilities are. The effort was undertaken in response to residents’ concerns about drainage when Harvey brought waters that flooded many homes.
“We did those open houses. I think it was very informative. I think it was a good effort to get information out there in some form or fashion,” he said.
Kelley conceded that despite the unprecedented amount of rainfall and inundation that the tropical storm brought, many people had gone up to him after these educational meetings to tell him they realized the district did everything possible to prevent problems.
DD7 is awaiting for response from the Army Corps of Engineers requesting a district-wide drainage study in concert with them.
In the wake of Harvey, DD7 also applied for FEMA and Corps assistance in helping pay for equipment lost or damaged in the flood. Kelley said the district qualifies for public assistance funding but has yet to hear back from federal agencies on what amount, if any, they would receive.
The Corps said first the window was marked as mid-December; Kelley said it was now mid-January.
Kelley said some relief funding would go toward replacing electric motors that had been underwater during the flood. The motors are sealed but not waterproof. As a result, they still operate and are able to fulfill such functions like vacuum pumping. But Kelley said they would want to change them out before they have problems.
In weighing tax revenue expectations for the year, Kelley said it was too early to tell how the district would be affected after so many residents lost their homes and incurred property damage. He said they would have a better idea of where they stood and how much they would get when the bulk of its tax revenue would come in late January and early February.
