Flood Control > Flood Retention Sites (Dams)

Flood Retention Sites (Dams)

FLOODWATER RETARDING STRUCTURES
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

SARA has two maintenance units which operate the forty-two completed floodwater retarding structures in five watershed protection and flood prevention projects. The majority of these structures are located on privately owned land. The main thrust of the maintenance program is the management of the vegetative cover on the floodwater retention dams which prevents destructive soil erosion and provides for structural stability. SARA maintenance units are also responsible for addressing property owners concerns and for maintenance and repair of the service spillway inlet structures and fences around the dams.

The Bexar County Maintenance Unit is located in southeast Bexar County near Loop 1604 and Highway 181 South in a 4,000 square foot facility. The unit is responsible for the 26 floodwater retarding structures in the Salado, Calaveras and Martinez Creek Watershed Projects.

The Karnes County Maintenance Unit is located on the northern edge of Kenedy on land donated by the Kenedy Chamber of Commerce. In cooperation with the Escondido Watershed District, Hondo Watershed District, the City of Kenedy and the Karnes County Soil and Water Conservation District, SARA maintenance personnel operate and maintain sixteen floodwater retention dams and the 2.07 miles of Nichols Creek.

SALADO CREEK WATERSHED PROTECTION
AND FLOOD PREVENTION PROJECT

The San Antonio River Authority has been involved in rural flood control programs in the San Antonio River Basin since 1951. The Authority was instrumental in the promotion and construction of the 64 “pilot” watersheds in the United States. This program led to the passage of the "Small Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act, Public Law 566" passed by Congress in 1954. Since the federal watershed protection work was started, there have been 48 flood control structures built in the San Antonio River Basin, 39 of which are now being maintained by the San Antonio River Authority.

The Salado Project, as approved by Congress in 1962 and amended in 1968 and 1971, provides flood control protection, recharge to the Edwards Aquifer, water conservation and erosion control. Many new recreational areas, both public and private, will be developed within the nearly 3,000 acres of land in the flood pool areas. Development of the Project is being jointly sponsored by the Alamo Soil and Water Conservation District No. 330 and the San Antonio River Authority. Construction is being done by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S.D.A. Rights-of-way are provided by SARA with flood control tax revenues through a flood control contract with Bexar County Commissioners Court. The City of San Antonio is also a participant, cooperating as a cosponsor for Site 15 (Revised), located at McAllister Park. The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, Department of the Interior, also provided grant funding for land acquisition at Site 15 (Revised).

The Salado Watershed crosses the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer in northern Bexar County. The Edwards Underground Water District acknowledged the potential benefits of these dams for recharge to the aquifer, and in 1967 contributed $210,000 to assist the local sponsors. It is estimated that these structures located on the Edwards outcrop will increase the groundwater recharge into the Edwards and associated limestones by an average of 3,000 acre-feet annually.

The Salado Watershed is 35 miles in length from the top of the watershed in extreme north central Bexar County to the confluence with the San Antonio River south of the City of San Antonio. Of the total area of 139,808 acres within the watershed, about 74,989 acres are located above the dam sites.

THE MARTINEZ CREEK WATERSHED

Planning on the Martinez Creek Project began May 2, 1958, and the Work Plan was completed August 7, 1959. Six floodwater retarding structures in the general vicinity of the City of Converse in eastern Bexar County were recommended by the plan. SARA and the Alamo Soil and Water Conservation District were the cosponsors of the project.

At the beginning of 1962 SARA expedited completion of land rights acquisition for the six dams. The Soil Conversation Service began construction on five of the six dams in 1963. Construction on the sixth and final dam began in 1964. SARA took over the operation and maintenance activities for the first five structures in 1966, and for the sixth structure on June 30, 1968.

THE CALAVERAS CREEK PILOT WATERSHED PROJECT

Sponsored by the Alamo Soil and Water Conservation District, the Wilson County Soil and Water Conservation District, and SARA, the nine floodwater retarding structures of the Calaveras Creek Pilot Watershed Project were completed on June 17, 1958. Lying in Eastern Bexar County, these dams control destructive floodwater runoff in a watershed approximately 61,400 acres in area, predominantly in Bexar County but also partially in Wilson County. The sponsors obtained necessary conservation practices from landowners in the watershed, and provided land rights for the dams which were designed and constructed by the Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Two of the floodwater retarding structures were inundated by the construction of Calaveras Lake and SARA operates and maintains the remaining seven.

THE ESCONDIDO CREEK PILOT WATERSHED PROJECT

The eleven floodwater retarding structures of the Escondido Creek Pilot Watershed Project in Karnes County were completed September 2, 1959. Project sponsors were the Karnes-Goliad Soil and Water Conservation District, the Escondido Watershed District, the City of Kenedy, and SARA. These dams protect a watershed of about 74,880 acres in the rural area of Karnes County west of the cities of Karnes City and Kenedy. Collectively they reduce flood flows in Escondido Creek in the City of Kenedy.

In 1961 the citizens of Kenedy again endured flooding from Nichols Creek, a major tributary of Escondido Creek. The Soil Conservation Service held a public hearing in Kenedy in 1962 and a re-survey of the Escondido Creek watershed including the Nichols Creek was authorized. On July 18, 1962 SARA and the Escondido Creek Watershed District entered into an agreement with the Soil Conservation Service to pay for the preparation of a revised Watershed Work Plan. Completed in 1964 the plan called for the construction under Public Law 566 of two additional floodwater retarding structures in the Escondido Creek Watershed and 2.07 miles of concrete channelization of Nichols Creek.

By 1968 SARA had agreed with the Escondido Creek Watershed District, Karnes-Goliad Soil and Water Conservation District, City of Kenedy and the Soil Conservation Service to operate and maintain by contract the eleven dams of the Escondido Pilot Project, the two additional Escondido dams and Nichols Creek channelization project.

Medina Dam (owned by BMA)