As Port Arthur awaits approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin four drainage projects, city officials are inviting their counterparts from other cities as well as Jefferson County Drainage District 7 for a symposium on drainage and storm water relief.

The symposium is themed “When It Rains It Drains” and is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bob Bowers Civic Center. The public is invited to offer comments.

Doors open at 5 p.m.

“It’s a meeting of the minds to bring various entities together to share information with them as to where we are in terms of our planning process and also to share information as to what resources are out there in order to taking a regional approach to hardening our infrastructure as far as drainage is concerned,” Port Arthur City Manager Ron Burton said.

“We know it’s tens of millions of dollars in federal funding out there that we can access. So, what we want to do is work with the drainage district and other municipalities to submit projects that would not only benefit the city but benefit other municipalities and entities like DD7 that work to solve our drainage issues that we have here.”

Port Arthur Public Works engineer Flozelle Roberts said more information on the scope of work done in the city and surrounding areas will be offered.

The city last week was authorized contract finalization with local engineers for drainage construction in the Lake Arthur Detention Area, Babe Zaharias Municipal Golf Course, El Vista subdivision and Port Acres subdivision.

A detention area, Roberts said, captures drainage and storm water and releases it into the drainage district over time.

“We have a forum where we want to inform the public what we’re doing and we want to hear from them,” Roberts said. “There may be other concerns we’re not aware of. We want that two-way communication.”

Burton is aware citizens are concerned about the impacts of Hurricane Harvey and want to know what Port Arthur engineers are doing on a long-term basis to reduce the effects of such as disaster.

The city was not flooded overnight when Tropical Storm Imelda landed in Port Arthur last September.

“It’s not a gripe in session, but we’re looking at a constructive way of planning for regional development,” Burton said. “We think we need to have everybody at the table.”