Ice, Ice: What a Freeze Means for IFCD 3

The past several mornings have presented their own form of wake-up call, as temperatures have dropped down near to freezing. While many Valley Ranch residents are long-term Texans, just as many likely have come from places where the climate isn’t as friendly as what we experience.

Overall, IFCD 3’s focus tends to be on rainstorms, because that represents quantities and pace at which water arrives in our community. Snowfall tends to be less of a concern, as infrequent as it occurs and at the amounts of liquid water it ultimately produces – as a point of reference, the U.S. Geological Survey offers a rule-of-thumb of 10 inches of snow equates to one inch of water.

In the precipitation category, one the dreaded sources remains. Ice.

While not dissimilar to the amount of water generated and frequency of occurrence as snow, ice can present some unique challenges to the District. While not immediately apparent, a solid layer of ice on grassy areas throughout the community can change the ability of the ground to absorb water, such as when a strong overnight ice storm changes to rain later in the morning. Water that might normally have been absorbed into the ground runs off onto parking lots, driveways and sidewalks, causing a higher amount of water to end up at storm sewer inlets along city streets.

Streets and ice aren’t typically intended to be aligned. However, given the unusual circumstances described, their “marriage” can create a new challenge for managing water runoff throughout our community. Normally, storm sewer inlets are sufficiently large to accept nearly any level of storm water encountered in Valley Ranch. However, if trash and leaves build up in front of these inlets, water flow into storm sewers can be restricted or even halted, resulting in water pooling in streets and potentially flowing onto surrounding land that may not be able to absorb all the water. Keeping the curbs free of these sources of blockage allows the water to flow into our system as designed, keeping it where it needs to be.

The most obvious concern for icy conditions is not how our facilities respond, but how our team does. As part of a larger group of essential workers, District support personnel routinely travel throughout our service area, checking facilities and equipment and responding to any reported concerns involving our operations. Safety on the streets protects them, as well as important assets, such as fences, gates and the actual lifeblood of the system – our waterways.

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