Comprehensive flood control and floodplain management

Lee Moore Wash Basin Management Project

With over 200 square miles in the watershed, Lee Moore Wash Basin was an area rife for development. The County didn’t know where to start—so they hired us.

Three Is—inform, involve, and include—summarized our strategy for building consensus among the stakeholders. We developed a stakeholder plan that engaged all of them at the earliest possible moment: the kick-off meeting. The stakeholders even assisted with the development of the alternatives criteria. In the past, the stakeholders were not involved until the alternatives were already selected.

Our team used two hydraulic engineering methods: HEC-RAS for the well-defined riverine systems and FLO-2D to model the poorly defined channels that flowed in multiple directions. The driving factor to complete the study was to develop a framework that would guide future growth, so modeling the unpredictable network of washes was a big part of the effort.

The implementation plan detailed the recommended alternatives by location, capital improvement costs, and potential cost-sharing partners. Instead of uncoordinated development, the area’s public and private landowners adopted the plan and are using consistent development criteria.