Tilting Weir

You’ve probably seen the words “tilting weir” on our website and in our social media posts. Although there are a number of flood control methods used by IFCD 3 to protect Valley Ranch, a “tilting weir” is another approach we’ll be adding to the IFCD 3 'toolkit' to direct and control stormwater around our community.

So, what is a tilting weir?

A weir is a small dam built across a river to control the upstream water level. They’ve been used for hundreds of years to control a river or stream’s water level. Depending on the weir’s shape, size and structure, these facilities are capable of accomplishing a variety of tasks, including power generation, improvement of navigation, control of flooding and acting as spillways for dams. The tilting aspect refers to a means of controlling the amount of water by raising or flattening the weir’s gate, an important aspect of our approach to flood control.

This past year, IFCD 3’s board approved a project to analyze the value of adding a tilting weir dam into our current system for discharging water from the IFCD 3 sump adjacent to the pump station into the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. An engineering study indicated that a tilting weir would provide an efficient, alternative means of removing water from the IFCD 3 system, filling a need that exists between the use of the existing sluice gates that apply gravity to transfer water into the Elm Fork and our high-power pumps that use a significant amount of electricity to quickly transfer larger quantities of water. Beyond saving energy, another benefit of having the tilting weir is the ability to reduce wear and tear on our pumps, extending their overall life.

Similar to the tilting weir example shown in the photo, the plate across which water flows can be tilted up or down using the gears on either end, transferring as much as 79,000 gallons of water per minute beyond what currently can exit the system using the gravity-fed method of the sluice gates. This will save an equivalent use of two of our electric pumps. Using this method will reduce pumping before and after storms, reducing the amount of electricity used and, therefore, reducing costs.

Fabrication of the tilting weir components by the manufacturer is expected to begin shortly, with installation to occur upon receipt of the completed assembly, subject to weather conditions at the time of delivery. Watch WaterWays for more information.