The History – and Future – of Flood Control

Planting vegetation, creating sloping hillsides and constructing waterways are not new concepts! Many of the major flood control methods that we see today date back to ancient times.

The best-known examples of modern-day flood control methods date back to:

• The dikes – low embankments – built by farmers in 500 BC in the Netherlands to protect crops from flooding
• The levees – heaped piles of earth, gravel, sand, rocks or debris – built along the Mississippi River nearly 150 years ago

Today, we see modern-day versions of dikes and levees throughout the Valley Ranch community, along with a plethora of other flood control methods that enable our team to routinely protect our community from the Trinity River’s excess water.

In recent years, we’ve built upon foundational flood control methods by implementing innovative, cutting-edge technology. Some of these updates include:

• Installing a backup power source for the pump station now allows us to run the pumps whenever necessary, even during a power outage
• Replacing each pump in our pump station to install lighter weight material, enabling the pumps to run with more efficiency and less electrical power
• Renovating our floodgates to control water flow in flood barriers, reservoirs, rivers and levee systems
• Integrating robotic trash collection within our waterways through Scoop – a collection bin that uses GPS and data communication to collect trash from our waterways
• Exploring a tilting weir dam for a more efficient means of removing water and the ability to reduce wear and tear on our pumps

While many flood control methods date back to hundreds of years ago, we’re always looking to incorporate new technology, materials and methods to further improve the flood control we deliver to Valley Ranch.

To stay updated on IFCD 3’s latest innovations and learn more about our mission to deliver flood control to Valley Ranch, explore the rest of our website, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.