Sluices and Pumps

In the last edition of WaterWays, we shared all the places and ways that water is collected throughout Valley Ranch to help prevent flooding of streets, sidewalks and, most importantly, buildings.

Water from roofs, parking lots, sidewalks, streets and even grassy areas all enter the IFCD 3 system of ponds, streams, canals and other waterways to arrive at the Ledbetter Sump and, ultimately, at the IFCD 3 pump station.

From there, the water needs to be discharged into the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. The Elm Fork runs along the east side of Irving, right next to our levee. The IFCD 3 operations team has two options for getting the water out of our system and into the river: § If the water level of the Elm Fork outside the levee is at a relatively normal level, the pump station operator can raise the sluice gates next to the pump station facility, allowing water to flow by gravity into the Elm Fork. § However, if water levels in the Trinity already are too high, water from the river actually could flow backwards through the sluice gates and into the IFCD 3 system; in this situation, operators make sure the sluice gates are closed and start one or more large electric pumps to send the water out of the system and into the Elm Fork.

Whether by way of the sluice gates or pumps, the IFCD 3 pump house operator makes decisions as to how far the sluice gates are opened or how many pumps are engaged based on water levels within the IFCD 3 system, current weather activity and forecasts of weather events in the coming days.

Having this combination of sluice gates and pumps delivers the best of both worlds. When less water needs to be removed, we rely on Mother Nature to transfer the water, conserving energy. Yet, when the need is greater than what sluice gates can properly handle, having the powerful, high capacity pumps enables IFCD 3 to continue protecting the community when the needs are greatest.