Storm Water Maintenance Branch

Michael G. Hogan, P.E., CFM Assistant Director

The Road Side/Off Road Ditch Maintenance Section is responsible for the cleaning/regrading of roadside ditches, including flushing culverts under driveways and streets. While the City Code of Ordinances mandates abutting property owners maintain ditches free of debris, the branch will regrade ditches that become heavily silted. Culverts are also flushed during this activity. New culverts or culverts that are damaged or undersized under residential or commercial driveways are the property owner’s responsibility for replacement. Many off-road drainage ditches are cleaned and regraded by the branch. These off-road ditches collect storm water from many smaller ditches and storm sewers and transport it to larger ditches and/or bayous maintained by the Harris County Flood Control District. (Maintained Ditches Map)

The Storm Sewer Maintenance Section handles the operation and maintenance of the City's storm sewer system, including task such as cleaning manholes and inlets and replacing missing manhole covers. The storm sewer system is very different from the sanitary sewer system that carries waste from your home. These sewers are designed only for storm water and empty directly into major ditches and bayous. This section is also responsible for entering storm sewers to remove debris and objects that can block the storm sewer; the “Confined Space Entry” team performs this function. Citizens are reminded to never dispose of grass clippings, motor oil, or other items in the storm sewer.

The NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Section monitors and inspects runoff from manufacturers and industrial businesses to prevent pollutants from entering our streams and bayous. Also, in support of the city's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater Permit, the city will conduct various tasks including investigations of illegal discharges to the storm water system and disposal of household hazardous waste through the Solid Waste Department’s Environmental Service Centers.

The Local Drainage Projects (LDP) typically stem from 3-1-1 service requests related to Storm Water Maintenance, whether it is a storm sewer, roadside ditching or an off-road ditching concern. Maintenance does an assessment of the request and determines if the request/concern needs engineering involvement. If it does, it is forwarded to Storm Water Engineering and "nominated" for "screening". The concern is reviewed internally by both Divisions to determine if further review and "screening" by an outside consultant is needed. If so, it is forwarded to an On-Call Engineering Consultant for "screening". The recommended solution from the "screening" determines whether it becomes a LDP. If it does, it is forwarded to Construction Management for our On-Call Repair Contractor or it is returned to Storm Water Maintenance to complete the work using the screening/design as guidelines to perform the work. For an LDP we typically approve projects with an expected cost of less then $150,000 though there have been exceptions. Each Drainage On-Call Repair contract is typically $1.5M to $2.0M and covers a period of one to two years. If the work needed is beyond the costs associated with an LDP, it is forwarded to Planning to be reviewed as part of a future CIP project.