Houston will maintain the city's open ditches again, reversing a policy that put onus on residents

Northeast Action Collective member Alice Liu cleans residue on Kellett Street, which has poor drainage, in January. Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Wednesday the city would take charge of maintaining open ditches again, reversing a decades-old policy that placed the onus on property owners.
Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

Houston Chronicle
Dylan McGuinness
June 7, 2023Updated: June 7, 2023 5:58 p.m.

Houston will reverse a decades-old policy that put the onus for maintenance of open drainage ditches on property owners, placing city crews back in charge of the work that can help prevent neighborhood flooding.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday the city will bring that responsibility back into its purview, as City Council considered its annual budget. The policy change comes after months of organizing by advocates from the nonprofit Northeast Action Collective, which repeatedly urged the city to boost its resources for storm water and drainage projects.

Turner said the city would use $20 million in new money, along with $20 million in the Public Works Department's existing budget, to reignite the maintenance program. An ordinance to enact the change will come to council in the next few weeks, the mayor said.

BACKGROUND: Most of Houston's open ditches are in minority neighborhoods, and poor maintenance puts them at risk

"It reverses a policy that was not working well for the city. It puts the onus back on the city to engage in a pro-maintenance policy, and the dollars will benefit wherever there are open ditches in this city," Turner said.

A report by Jim Blackburn, an environmental law professor at Rice University, recommended the policy change. Blackburn's firm, Sustainable Planning and Design, wrote the report for the neighborhood's coalition, which showed the strongest concentration of open ditches in northeast Houston. They also are in the Heights and much of southeast Houston.

"This policy should be reversed. The city of Houston maintains the full drainage system in almost all parts of the city but not here. That must change. Although equity demands more than equality, equality of service provision is an absolute requirement at the very least," the report read.

"On the one hand, this ask of the city of Houston doesn’t sound like a frame-breaking concept; in fact, it sounds easy. In reality, it is not. This issue has been discussed off and on for several years. In fact, this is a hard request for the city to agree with because it involves resetting budgets that are always difficult to balance. As a legacy issue, this would be a great one for Mayor Turner."

The news came as District B Councilmember Tarsha Jackson proposed using $20 million for the city's Local Drainage Program. The policy change will use that money to get started.

After it won unanimous support at council, Northeast Action Collective organizers — dressed in their trademark yellow shirts — erupted in cheers, and some cried in joy.

"We did a concentrated effort, we started in March coming to City Hall," said Doris Brown, one of the organizers. "And today is payday."

In all, the city has put $60 million toward local storm water projects in the most recent two budgets, along with another $20 million in funding from Harris County. That is double the traditional amount allotted for those neighborhood drainage projects.

The ditch amendment will mean the Local Drainage Program will increase from $12 million to $32 million, as well.

“Today is a huge day for District B and our city. Never before has a city budget dedicated this level of funding to improving our drainage infrastructure," Jackson said in a statement. "Too many of our residents still haven’t recovered from Harvey. We’ve seen how difficult rebuilding is. It is important that we take as many preventive measures as we can so we lessen the agony of rebuilding." 

dylan.mcguinness@houstonchronicle.com