Houston, TX Tyler Gentry – Fall09 Project H2Go Houston, TX Tyler Gentry – Fall09

Analysis In order to make a calculation of water tank capacity requirements for the micro area of study, we will look directly at the Buffalo Bayou. The drainage area of the Buffalo Bayou is 103 square miles. The population in that drainage area is over 410,000. The open stream is 116 miles. During Hurricane Allison, a gauge on the Buffalo Bayou read 23.54 inches of water in 5 days, 14.45 inches of that were in 2 days. If the entire area of the Buffalo Bayou’s drainage system received 7.3 inches of rain in a day, that would amount to: 1 sq. mile = (5280x5280) or 27,878,400 s.f. 7.3” = .6083333 of 1 foot This equates to (.6083333x27,878,400/.6083333) 16,959,360 cubic ft. of water per mile. This is (1 US Gal = .133680556 cubic ft.) or 126,865,350 Gallons per mile. The total gallons in the Buffalo Bayou Drainage system through the day would then be (126,865,350x103) or 13,067,131,059 Gallons in a 24 hour period.

Images of Process

Images of Process Cont’d

Analysis Cont’d From these analysis images, we can assume that approximately 60% of the land in this area is impervious cover. If we assume that at least 60% of the total gallons per day must drain through the bayou, this is still (13,067,131,059 Gallons*60%) 7,840,278,635 gallons per day or 326,678,277 gallons per hour flowing into the buffalo bayou. How fast is the bayou flowing into the gulf? Well….

As seen in the above diagram, the flood areas along the Buffalo bayou are divided into 7 approximately equivalent areas for implementation flood control systems. Each area’s tanks would need to be capable of containing 2,240,079,610 gallons.

Size Requirements 500,000 s.f. footprint 2,240,079,610 gallons need to be removed / contained to prevent the 2 day 500 year flood 1 US Gal = .133680556 cubic ft. We need to contain 299,454,962 cubic feet of water. With this footprint, the structure needs to be approximately 600’ feet tall.

The Design H2Go The structure is a set of modules that use the center of each structural support column (10’ diameter) for either suction tentacles or electrical supply. The structure is to act as a gauge of the flooding throughout each region. The levels are segmented so that if the water is flooding upstream, the left hand side of the gauge / collection tank displays to the city that this is happening. If it downstream, we see the opposite. Below is an example of flood waters coming in from upstream.