Last Thursday the City Plan Commission (CPC) once again postponed action on the new Drainage Design Manual. City Planning Engineer Kareem Dallo asked for a two week extension and hinted at delay until January. CPC Chair Larry Nance was hoping for at least the implementation of the DDM on a voluntary basis.
The fact is that the development community of El Paso is in the driver's seat and they do not want the DDM passed. Never mind dealing with water scarcity and conservation. Never mind making sure that there is enough water for their grandchildren's grandchildren or even their grandchildren. What's important are those big profit margins and bank accounts. They have got to afford those mega homes which are more space than anyone will ever need and more space gouged out of the mountainsides and arroyos. Why should El Paso enter the twenty-first century when good old-fashioned Conquistador colonialism is good enough for a few builders. (I always think of the evil villains in J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis novels who are often described by their lust to destroy the environment and reduce the earth to concrete and steel. Both by the way were real Christians who used fiction to talk about Christianity.)
The complaint remains the same: the DDM is unfair because there are no soil tests of El Paso and a comprehensive survey will cost in the excess of $100,000. Try getting their bought and paid for sycophants on City Council to come up with that pittance.
But the fact is that there already is a comprehensive soil survey of El Paso County. It was done by the USDA in 1971. You can see the report online. The Texas A&M Ag Research Center of El Paso published a guide in September 2000: "Soil Resources of El Paso" which contains a map of the soils of El Paso. You can get a copy of that guide from our County Extension Agent. As I said in an earlier post: the soils in El Paso have not changed in all of this time in spite of the excuses and protests of those in City Planning who are politically motivated to go along with the developers. (Read Carlos Gallinar.) The soil survey exists in spite of the misinformation put out by the voice of development, Richard Williams.
There is no need to spend money on a new survey. The survey has already been done.
There is no need for further delay of the Drainage Design Manual. If some want to make it voluntary - fine. But make those who choose to use water wasting methods pay an impact fee - a huge one.
Showing posts with label Drainage Design Manual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drainage Design Manual. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Soil Map of El Paso
This is a follow-up to last Friday's post, Critical Water Conservation Guidelines May at Best Be Optional in El Paso. The development community wants to scuttle the Drainage Design Manual and their excuse is that there have not been soil surveys of El Paso so that standards are not arbitrary. As I pointed out, the USDA in 1971 did a comprehensive soil survey of all of El Paso County. A soil map was developed by Texas A&M University, Agricultural Research Center at El Paso using 26 soil survey maps of El Paso County. Here is the map. Just click on it to enlarge. Copy if you would like and send it to one of your favorite developers or maybe Carlos Gallinar in Planning and Development.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Critical Water Conservation Guidelines May at Best Be Optional in El Paso
One of the benefits of re-doing the NW Master Plan was the employment of rainwater capture and retention strategies using Green Infrastructure/Low Impact Development tools. The next step was to re-do the El Paso Drainage Design manual so that the same GI/LID tools could be used all over the City. The idea is to recapture rainwater so that it permeates back into the aquifers of the Hueco Bolson and the Mesilla Bolson thereby recharging our groundwater. Another benefit of rainwater and landscape management includes keeping landscapes watered without having to use much extra water if any. The addition of trees especially helps to cool the City and its homes which, once again, means using less water for evaporative cooling.
So here is the final draft of the new Drainage Design Manual:
Once released, the avaricious barracudas in the development community began to swarm and bite. Led by River Oaks and Richard Williams the objection was raised that the DDM cannot be applied because El Paso has a variety of soils that require different drainage techniques.
Carlos Gallinar, Planning Deputy Director, told me that the LID standards for drainage were not calibrated for various areas of El Paso. What is required, he said, is a "concrete set of directivies" that developers, builders and engineers can use rather than arbitrary standards. He stated that the problem is that there is no more money for doing the kind of soil analysis required for such directives. The project would cost in the neighborhood of $100,000 and City Council is being very conservative.
When I pointed out to him that the USDA had published a comprehensive soil survey of El Paso County in 1971, he retorted that, although he had not seen the study, it was probably out of date as soils may have changed. Of course, such extreme changes would require catastrophic geological events. There have been no earthquakes, landslides, a radical shift in the flow of the Rio Grande, mountain building or dramatic rifting of the Rio Grande River Valley since 1971. The caliche beneath my yard typical in central El Paso on the mountain slopes was there when my parents built this house and is there whenever I want to plant a new shrub or tree. East El Paso has sand down to 10,000 feet (that Rio Grande River Rift again) and the Valleys have silts and clays.
Soil testing is a required part of any building project any way. Also, percolation tests are easy. Dig a hole, fill it with water, see how much water has permeated the ground in an hour or so.
Hydrologist John Walton told me that he liked what he saw in the DDM. Landscape experts tell me that drainage requirements could easily be based on percolation rates.
So why the stall? Why did City Development push the City Plan Commission to recommend to City Council that, without a study, the DDM would have to be optional?
We all know that, since the last City Council election, developers are in the driver's seat with City Council. Elpasonaturally has learned that considerable pressure is on the City Manager to go along. The pressure moves down the chain of command and, presto magico, the leadership of Planning and Development, which was far more progressive a year ago, has become lap doggish - yes people with excuses such as the one Carlos Gallinar was giving me. (Chain of command pressure may also explain why Gallinar now refuses to return calls by me and is only responsive when I track him down.) Elpasonaturally has also learned that the morale in the rank and file of Planning has turned toward the morose.
If the City Council can't find $100,000 to do a study that will lead to solid GI/LID standards and save us water for generations, then I suggest that the Stormwater Utility do it. Let's see what River Oaks and their buddies say after that study is done.
So here is the final draft of the new Drainage Design Manual:
Once released, the avaricious barracudas in the development community began to swarm and bite. Led by River Oaks and Richard Williams the objection was raised that the DDM cannot be applied because El Paso has a variety of soils that require different drainage techniques.
Carlos Gallinar, Planning Deputy Director, told me that the LID standards for drainage were not calibrated for various areas of El Paso. What is required, he said, is a "concrete set of directivies" that developers, builders and engineers can use rather than arbitrary standards. He stated that the problem is that there is no more money for doing the kind of soil analysis required for such directives. The project would cost in the neighborhood of $100,000 and City Council is being very conservative.
When I pointed out to him that the USDA had published a comprehensive soil survey of El Paso County in 1971, he retorted that, although he had not seen the study, it was probably out of date as soils may have changed. Of course, such extreme changes would require catastrophic geological events. There have been no earthquakes, landslides, a radical shift in the flow of the Rio Grande, mountain building or dramatic rifting of the Rio Grande River Valley since 1971. The caliche beneath my yard typical in central El Paso on the mountain slopes was there when my parents built this house and is there whenever I want to plant a new shrub or tree. East El Paso has sand down to 10,000 feet (that Rio Grande River Rift again) and the Valleys have silts and clays.
Soil testing is a required part of any building project any way. Also, percolation tests are easy. Dig a hole, fill it with water, see how much water has permeated the ground in an hour or so.
Hydrologist John Walton told me that he liked what he saw in the DDM. Landscape experts tell me that drainage requirements could easily be based on percolation rates.
So why the stall? Why did City Development push the City Plan Commission to recommend to City Council that, without a study, the DDM would have to be optional?
We all know that, since the last City Council election, developers are in the driver's seat with City Council. Elpasonaturally has learned that considerable pressure is on the City Manager to go along. The pressure moves down the chain of command and, presto magico, the leadership of Planning and Development, which was far more progressive a year ago, has become lap doggish - yes people with excuses such as the one Carlos Gallinar was giving me. (Chain of command pressure may also explain why Gallinar now refuses to return calls by me and is only responsive when I track him down.) Elpasonaturally has also learned that the morale in the rank and file of Planning has turned toward the morose.
If the City Council can't find $100,000 to do a study that will lead to solid GI/LID standards and save us water for generations, then I suggest that the Stormwater Utility do it. Let's see what River Oaks and their buddies say after that study is done.
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