The Hays County Commissioners Court has approved more than $200,000 in annual funding for repairs and maintenance to the county’s flood warning system. The system records data from devices near low water crossings and other areas prone to flooding throughout the county to provide web-based alerts of dangerous flooding conditions to drivers and residents.
The court voted unanimously on March 10 to approve a contract with Water and Earth Technologies for $225,900 per year. The agenda item was introduced by Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra; Mike Jones, Director of the Hays County Office of Emergency Services; and purchasing agent Stephanie Hunt.
Rob Niedenzu, Water & Earth Technologies Field Services and GIS Manager, said the company was first hired by Hays County in 2016, following the catastrophic flooding in the Wimberley area in 2015. Installation of the current county-wide Flood Early Warning system began in 2017, at a cost of “around $2,000,000,” according to Niendenzu. “The total system has been in operation since then.”
The system consists of a central database to collect and display live data, data reception stations, automated Low Water Crossings (LWX), stream-level gauges, weather stations and rain gauges, he said.
Similar systems can be found in Bexar County, Harris County and in Dallas, as well as Bernardino and Orange counties in California, and the Mile High Flood District in Colorado, according to Niedenzu.
The budget approved by the Hays County Commissioners Court is an annual maintenance and upgrades contract. “Systems like these require constant maintenance and care in locations like Central Texas,” he said.
As specified in the contract, preventative maintenance includes checks on power systems, antenna systems, rain gauges, pressure transducers and flashing lights, and recalibration as necessary.
Mike Jones said that the Hays Informed website uses the data collected from the Water & Earth systems to keep information on low water crossing maps up-to-date and accurate at haysinformed.com/maps/watercrossingfloodmaps
“It shows all 30 systems that are in play right now,” Jones said. “When water is on the road, and the road is getting close to a closure, that location is going to turn yellow, which means use caution going across there, and then returns red, that means it's closed.”
Jones says Hays County has also installed cameras on area dams and certain low water crossings to monitor rising water situations. These locations include FM 150 at Onion Creek (Upstream), FM 150 at Onion Creek (Downstream), Little Arkansas Road at Blanco River, Post Road at Blanco River and two cameras at Upper San Marcos River Dam sites. Maintenance of these cameras is included in the court-approved contract.
Hays County is also part of the Capital Area Council of Governments, which allows Hays Emergency Services to stay in constant contact with Llano and Blanco counties, areas which can directly affect the river levels in Hays County. “When they see waters coming high, they're letting me know, hey watch your systems,” Jones said.
As part of a separate funding measure, the county plans to install guard rails at low water crossings where the monitoring devices have been hit by vehicles or need to be moved further away from the road.
Jones said the county has been looking to add more low water crossing monitors as well as upgraded technology that can identify ice on roads and wildfires in addition to the data on water levels.
The city of San Marcos established their own partnership with Water & Earth Technologies in 2023. The data collected by the W&ET flow and rain gages can be viewed at sanmarcos.wetec.us/WETMap/csm/
