Three new pumps at the Steep Bank Creek Pump Station are now operational, creating 150,000 gallons per minute (GPM) of additional pumping capacity. Fort Bend County Levee Improvement District No. 15 (LID 15) partnered with Fort Bend County Levee Improvement District No. 19 (LID 19) to improve flood control in the Steep Bank Creek watershed, which includes the eastern portion of LID 15. The expanded pump station is located inside LID 19 on Thompson Ferry Road, but this flood control facility is jointly operated by LID 15 and LID 19.
The Steep Bank Creek Pump Station was originally constructed with four pumps that combined remove up to 80,000 GPM. The three new pumps increase the total pump capacity to 230,000 GPM. The facility is also home to 12 mobile pumps that can produce an additional 80,000 GPM. When combined these improvements represent a 388% increase in pumping capacity since Hurricane Harvey.
The four original pumps included a natural gas-powered generator to operate during a power outage, and diesel generators were recently added to back up the new pumps. The pump stations in LID 15 are exercised monthly and are operated when the Brazos River reaches flood stages that automatically close the flood gates in the levee. If it rains in LID 15 while the flood gates are closed, the pump stations are activated to remove runoff from inside the levee.
Steep Bank Creek Pump Station
Steep Bank Creek Ribbon Cutting
Pictured from left to right: Girish Misra (LID 15), Glen Gill (LID 15), Jeff Anderson (LID 15), Fort Bend County Judge KP George, Rohit Sankholkar (LID 15), Kalapi Sheth (LID 19), Fort Bend County Pct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers, Timothy Benz (LID 19), Sreekanth Pannala (LID 19), Radhika Iyer (LID 19), and Jay Parekh (LID 19)
