The Brown County Water Improvement District’s (BCWID) Board of Directors met Tuesday night and was briefed on a Lake Brownwood hydrology analysis that they are hopeful will help maintain the Lake’s current flood elevation level.
Hydrologist Ron Morrison recently completed a historical analysis of Lake Brownwood and compiled the maximum lake flood elevations for the past 77 years using historical data provided by the BCWID.
“This analysis essentially is a graph analysis of the history of Lake Brownwood floods,” said BCWID General Manager Dennis Spinks.
Spinks said that 1435.6 mean sea level was the flood elevation that this new historical study of Lake Brownwood showed. The current base flood elevation of Lake Brownwood is 1435.
“His (Morrison’s) summary is that the 1435 is a good number for a flood plain elevation,” Spinks said.
County Judge Ray West will be sending the report to FEMA and will ask FEMA to accept this analysis as the best available data.
FEMA has been working on re-mapping Brown County and has attempted to raise the base flood elevation three feet above the current levels. City and county officials have discussed publicly in the past that they are against this increase due to the negative impact it would have on residents. This new historical analysis may help them in this fight.
The BCWID Board of Directors approved payment to Morrison for 1/3 of the cost of the new study which was $1589. Spinks said that the City of Brownwood and Brown County will split the balance of the bill.
In other business at the BCWID Tuesday:
-The Board of Directors was briefed on the status of the District’s microfiltration water treatment plant. Currently, a new rapid-mix unit is expected to arrive in mid-April and is expected to help get the new plan operational.
-The Board of Directors approved a change order in the amount of $7530.61 for the purchase of chemical containers for the microfiltration plant.
