The Fort Worth District Civil Works missions include flood risk management, ecosystem restoration, water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife mitigation, hydropower and environmental stewardship.
The District’s Civil Works area of responsibility covers approximately 53 percent of the state of Texas and portions of 10 river basins from the Rio Grande River in the southwest to the Red River in the northeast.
The District collaborates with numerous river authorities, federal, state and local governments, and resource agencies on water resource studies within the Trinity, San Antonio, Guadalupe, Nueces, Brazos, Sabine, Neches, Sulphur, Rio Grande and Colorado river basins. The issues addressed in these studies range from large, complex, multi-purpose basin-wide water resource problems to smaller, localized problems. Current ongoing studies and projects include:
Wright Patman Lake Reallocation Study
The Guadalupe and San Antonio River Basins feasibility study is investigating the water resources problems, needs and opportunities in the south central Texas river basin to determine alternatives for flood risk management, ecosystem restoration, water quality, water supply and recreation. Focus areas to date include the Cibolo Creek and Leon Creek watersheds as well as the Lower Guadalupe River.
Studies completed to date under the Wharton/Onion Creek feasibility study have resulted in construction authorization for the Onion Creek and Wharton projects. When completed, the Onion Creek project will provide flood protection in Travis County and Austin, Texas. The project involves purchasing and removing houses and businesses from the floodplain and then using the vacated land for ecosystem restoration and recreation. Once constructed, the Wharton project’s levees, floodwalls, and channel modifications will effectively remove the vast majority of the City of Wharton, Texas, from the 100-year floodplain.
The Nueces River and Tributaries, Texas, feasibility study is identifying opportunities to more efficiently use the available water within the river system to benefit both human and ecosystem needs. Poor land use practices, recent near-record droughts and conflicting water resource management issues have resulted in significant environmental degradation in the watershed.
The Lower Colorado River Basin feasibility study is evaluating water resource problems, needs and opportunities within the river basin in central and south Texas. Basin-wide flooding occurred in 2002, 2004 and most recently in June 2007, when the area around the City of Marble Falls received a history-making 19 inches of rainfall within a 24-hour period.
Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment - Section 408 NEPA Compliance