Mayor Turner and Amy Reed, executive director of Keep Houston Beautiful, announced the launch of the City's new Adopt-A-Drain Program, which is a partnership between Houston Public Works, Keep Houston Beautiful and community partners. This program hopes to help prevent future flooding, save taxpayer money and keep our neighborhood storm drains clean and litter free. When drains aren't cared for then it means you need to get a Blocked Drain Cleaning service in to deal with the blockages that occur and if the blockage isn't dealt with before a storm hits, there is a high chance of flooding. For this reason, the city and its residents within the local neighborhoods are already looking towards local services similar to Steve's Plumbing (callstevesplumbing.com/plumber-marysville-wa/) to aid with clearing any blockages before the flood season begins.
The city is addressing its flooding challenges on many levels, and spends $13 million each year on storm drain maintenance, inspection and repairs. As it plans for regional detention and large-scale drainage improvement projects to make our city more flood resilient, it also recognizes that all Houstonians can individually contribute in the efforts to reduce local street flooding.
“Anyone in the community can help by adopting a drain and promising to keep it free from leaves and trash, especially before it rains,” said Mayor Turner, “these are just small actions that can add up to make a big difference for our entire City”.
The mayor encourages Houstonians to adopt at least one of the 115,000 available storm drains. As Adopt-A-Drain partners, program participants are asked to keep their drain clear of leaves and trash by cleaning it at least four times a year (especially before it rains), clean 10 feet on both sides of the drain, and compost or dispose of leaves and trash properly.
"The Adopt-A-Drain program is one that neighbors, and families, civic groups and businesses can all take part in to make their community a better place to live, work and play," said Amy Reed, executive director of Keep Houston Beautiful, "Thanks to the help of our generous sponsors, Keep Houston Beautiful will host five events as a part of this program to distribute supplies and create educational materials for the Adopt-A-Drain program."
"We know that there will be another storm and this program will make a daily difference in the lives of our residents by making sure that your storm drainage system is ready for the next storm," said, Carol Haddock, director Houston Public Works, "Houstonians are our eyes and ears and only you can help us know if an inlet top is broken or if a grade cover is missing. Please help us, help you by reporting these items to 3-1-1."
To adopt-a-drain in your neighborhood, visit: www.HoustonAdoptaDrain.org. By adopting a drain, partners will receive information and tips from the City of Houston and Keep Houston Beautiful and notification of upcoming Houston Adopt-a-Drain events.
ADOPT-A-DRAIN PROGRAM SPONSORS:
BGE, Inc.
Houston Association of Realtors
Sprint Companies
Costello, Inc.
R.G. Miller Engineers, Inc.
ABOUT HOUSTON’S ADOPT-A-DRAIN PROGRAM
Houston’s Adopt-a-Drain program was one of the innovative solutions presented at the 2017 Houston Hackathon in partnership with Sketch City, a nonprofit community that advocates for civic technology and open data. More than 300 people including software developers, designers, and data analysts attended the event. Houston’s “civic hackers” pitched ideas, formed teams, and developed innovative new websites, mobile apps, and insightful data visualizations to address community and City problems, including Houston’s Adopt-a-Drain.
The Adopt-a-Drain Hackathon team included: Reginald Garret, Benjamin Flores, Xiaoying Hu and Sean Wyse.
