Years ago, when I was a supervisor at Cameron County's Road and Bridge Pct. 1, one of the most knotty and troublesome headaches we had was the provision of basic services to the area's colonias.
The term "colonias," as popularly defined, refer to illegal subdivisions which were established without the basic infrastructure such as adequate drainage, in flood zones, and without adequate roads.
But the term is not entirely correct. Colonias run the gamut, with some being actually legally-platted subdivisions that were built on inadequate sites.
Such was the case with the Valle Escondido Subdivision (colonia) at the bend in FM 149 (Southmost Road) before it turns into Oklahoma Road.That subdivision was properly platted and registered with the county long before such niceties as flood plain restrictions and rural-grade roads were implements into the county subdivision rules.
As a result, the colonia was built just across the street from an old water reservoir. The area depended on drainage from a WPA-constructed irrigation system that was designed to bring water to the fields, and not to drain it away. The jerry-rigged irrigation-drainage district simply dug a ditch to the channel at the Port of Brownsville and hoped that in times of heavy rains, the runoff would gradually subside as it seeped toward the channel. With luck, and a low tide, it might just go into the Gulf before it could impact the precinct's low-lying areas.
Well, it never quite worked out that way.
Southeast Brownsville had undergone considerable economic growth since the antiquated drainage system was implemented that translates into increased development pressures. Older residential areas such as Valle Escondido were often developed without consideration of upstream hydrology, downstream impacts, and before the adoption of the National Flood Insurance Plan (NFIP).
During a washout, all the county crews and drainage district could do was try to keep the ditches clean and hope for the best.
The issue came to a head in September 1991 when a "flood event," as FEMA called it, pelted the area with almost 10 inches of rain in one day. The runoff from the city and southeast areas south the lowest point. That point was Valle Escondido.
The water remained standing in the residents' homes for days. Their sewage systems – septic tanks – overflowed and seeped into the houses. Kids would develop rashes and would be sent home from school. After the rains, sweltering heat worsened the situation. A stench pervaded in the air.
Through this all, colonia leader Jose Luis Almazan was a burr on the county's side. Indefatigable and persistent, he forced the county and the drainage district to find a solution to the chronic flooding. After a time, in conjunction with the Cameron County Planning, Development and Management Department, he was able to secure funding from the state to construct an outfall to the Rio Grande that would automatically commence draining runoff to the river when it reached a certain level and prevent another catastrophe.
Not only did the City of Brownsville, Cameron County and the State of Texas have to become involved, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and the International Water and Boundary Commission also had to be consulted and brought on board.
Today, that outfall has not only prevented flooding to the colonia, but has opened that corner of southeast Brownsville to normal economic development. In time, Almazan shifted his attention to the housing needs of his neighbors.
Recognizing his grassroots leadership abilities, we nominated Jose Luis to the Resident Advisory Committee of the Cameron Willacy Counties Colonia Self-Help Center in 1996. Since then, the center has been active in procuring more than $4 million in state grants for affordable housing services in the area's colonias.
On Thursday, Mr. Almazan was given a long-deserved recognition by the Cameron County Commissioners County for his volunteer efforts on behalf of residents in the county's colonias. Judge Carlos Cascos presented him with a Distinguished Service Award on behalf of the court.
Luis has been an advocate for colonias for the better part of his adult life and time has weighed upon his frame. He now has the need to use a walking cane and you can see him making the rounds around the county courthouse visiting the various offices. We're sure that this recognition, long overdue, will hardly slow him down. Congratulations Jose Luis!
2 comments:
Congratulations to Jose Luis and to all the many volunteers who give freely of their time, effort and money to support this community. All too often, it is the volunteers who do the work and the politicians who take credit. There are many volunteers in this community and the city should have a special "Volunteer Recognition Day" to pay tribute to their efforts.
you should clarify. the "drainage district" that you mention in your article is actually an irrigation district. irrigation districts bring water to the field and drainage districts remove the water. it can be confusing because back in the day, the brownsville irrigation district, who you refer to, was actually called the browsville irrigation and drainage district at the time. the name has since been changed since many of these colonias were mistakenly looking to them for flood relief. the area was originally covered under cameron county drainage district no.2. unfortunately, they went out of business long ago. more recently, cameron county drainage district no. 1 has been allowed by the county to expand into the area to provide maintenance to the areas ditches and to ensure that new developemnts in the area provide for their increased runoff throgh the creation of detention ponds. even more recently, however, drainage district no. 1 has changed its focus to monument building by creating a huge park behind their headquarters. although the park is a lofty goal nad probably needed in the area, it should not be built with drainage tax dollars. they will tell you that it is grant funded, but i would bet that if you did an open records request, you would see that there have been little to no grant funds received.
Post a Comment