Barker Reservoir facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Barker Reservoir |
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 Barker Reservoir
Location in Texas
Barker Reservoir
Location in the United States
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| Location | Houston, Texas, United States |
| Coordinates | 29°46′11″N 95°38′47″W / 29.769674°N 95.646335°W |
| Type | Reservoir |
| Basin countries | United States |
Barker Reservoir is a large area in Houston, Texas, designed to hold back flood waters. It helps stop areas downstream from Buffalo Bayou, which is Houston's main river, from flooding. This reservoir works together with Addicks Reservoir, located to its northeast. Addicks Reservoir collects water from Mayde and Bear Creeks, which are smaller streams that flow into Buffalo Bayou.
Both reservoirs were approved by the government to help control floods. This approval happened through special laws passed in 1938, and these laws were updated in 1954 and 1965.
George Bush Park, which is managed by Harris County, Texas, is completely inside the Barker Reservoir area. The city of Houston took over the Addicks area in 1972.
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Where is Barker Reservoir?
Barker Reservoir is located southwest of where two major roads, Interstate 10 and Texas State Highway 6, meet. It is about one mile (1.6 km) south of a place called Addicks, in the western part of Harris County.
The special overflow area of the Barker Reservoir, called the spillway, is found at 29°46′10.86″N 95°38′47.09″W / 29.7696833°N 95.6464139°W.
The dam and reservoir are named after Eldred Barker. He was an early settler who lived from 1775 to 1842. Part of the land for the reservoir was originally his property, surveyed in 1842.
How Barker Reservoir Was Built
Barker Reservoir was created by building a long dam made of packed earth. This dam is about 72,900 feet (22,200 m) long. A gravel road, 12-foot-wide (3.7 m), runs along the very top of the dam.
The highest point of the dam is about 112.5 feet (34.3 m) above a standard sea level measurement. In some places, the dam is as tall as 36 feet. The reservoir can hold a huge amount of water, up to 209,000 acre-feet (258,000,000 cubic metres; 258 gigalitres). When combined with the nearby Addicks Reservoir, they can hold about 410,000 acre-feet (510,000,000 m3; 510 GL) of water in total.
From 2008 to 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked to make the Addicks and Barker dams safer. They spent $4.4 million on temporary fixes while planning for long-term improvements. In 2014, they finished a study to figure out the best ways to repair the dams. They shared these plans with the public and asked for feedback. Major construction work was planned to start in May 2015 and was expected to finish by 2019.
Benefits of the Reservoirs
The Addicks and Barker Reservoirs, along with other projects on Buffalo Bayou, help prevent a lot of flood damage in Houston. It is estimated that these projects save the city about $16,372,000 in flood damages each year.
Legal Cases About Flooding
During and after Hurricane Harvey, about 7,000 acres of private land upstream from the dams became flooded. This happened because the Addicks and Barker dams held back the floodwaters. Because of this, many lawsuits were filed in a special court called the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The court chose thirteen property owners to be test cases. Their cases would help decide if the government was responsible for the flooding. On December 17, 2019, the court decided that the flooding of these upstream properties was like the government taking private property for public use. This is related to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says private property cannot be taken without fair payment.
- Barker Reservoir from the Handbook of Texas Online
