With the occurrence of Hurricane Harvey, much attention has been focused on Addicks and Barker Reservoirs upstream of Houston. This post shows the location of the reservoirs and provides data, including pool elevations, of both reservoirs.
The following information was gathered from the Texas Water Development Board website.
Addicks Reservoir is located near Addicks, Texas in Harris County on South Mayde and Langham Creeks, tributaries to Buffalo Bayou. Addicks Dam was completed in 1948.
Barker Reservoir is located near Barker, Texas in Harris and Fort Bend Counties. Barker Reservoir is formed by Barker Dam, which is located on Buffalo Bayou. Barker Dam was completed in 1945.
The location of these reservoirs is shown in the figure below. I have also located the general location of Buffalo Bayou. Note that both reservoirs are located upstream of and to the west of Houston. Buffalo Bayou runs through the city of Houston.
Both Addicks and Barker Reservoirs are used for flood control only. There is no storage for water supply at either reservoir and under normal conditions, both reservoirs are kept empty.
Pertinent elevations for Addicks:
Top of Dam = 119.6 feet
Crest of Emergency Spillway = 108.9 feet
According to USGS data, the pool elevation peaked at around 109.1 feet on 8/30/2017. This means that the water level peaked just above the crest of the spillway.
Pertinent elevations for Barker:
Top of Dam = 112.4 feet
Crest of Emergency Spillway = 103.7 feet
According to USGS data, the pool elevation peaked at around 101.5 feet on 8/30/2017. This means that the water level peaked about 2.2 feet below the crest of the spillway.
The peak pool elevations at both Addicks and Barker were record high levels.
The reservoir elevations at Addicks Reservoir from 8/21/2017 to 9/5/2017 are shown in the figure below. Prior to the inflow from Hurricane Harvey, stored flood waters were being evacuated from a previous rainfall event.
The reservoir elevations at Barker Reservoir from 8/21/2017 to 9/5/2017 are shown in the figure below. As was the case with Addicks Reservoirs, stored flood waters were being evacuated from a previous rainfall event prior to the inflow from Hurricane Harvey.
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