Smart IDEA Prevents Flooding
Assistance team installs control systems to avoid residential devastation
By Caitlin Churchill
The Irrigation District Engineering and Assistance Program (IDEA) responded to a Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 6 (HCID6) request to help prevent flooding along Walker Lake by installing remote and automatic control systems on the emergency gate of the Rio Grande.
IDEA developed the Mission 6 project when the lake, one of the district’s main water management systems, began experiencing excessive water levels due to heavy rain.
“During a heavy rain in 2006, the district received reports around three in the morning that high reservoir levels were threatening residential areas,” said Askarali Karimov, Extension associate at Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco. “The road to the emergency gate site was dangerous and practically impassable to travel by vehicle, so the district personnel had to walk a mile through the rain on a dark muddy road to open the gate and release the excess water.”
When even more intense raining occurred, the dirt road leading to the emergency gate became entirely inaccessible. If impossible for personnel to manually open the Rio Grande emergency gate, rains ultimately would have flooded homes and residential areas along Walker Lake.
To combat these hazards, the IDEA team installed remote and automatic control systems at the emergency gate near the main pump station of the Rio Grande. This allows the district manager to immediately respond to water level readings and open flood gates from a safe distance.
HCID6 further requested the IDEA team to install two additional remote and automatic control systems on Walker and District lakes. Programming is complete and HCID6 is now purchasing hardware for the sites. Once the project is finished, the district manager, Cornelio Morales, can control the entire lake system from his office computer.
“The control system will ensure that our radial gates open and close when needed, thus avoiding mistakes that could be costly,” Morales said. “This system will ensure peace of mind and security to the district and neighbor communities.”
Texas AgriLife Extension Specialist Dr. Guy Fipps said the Mission 6 project is the first fully automatic successful gate control system in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, saying it’s, “a starting point for the district… which will improve efficient and timely water delivery and conveyance system management.”
IDEA began in the 1990s and is now the most extensive university-based program of its kind in the United States. The IDEA program includes educational services and technical assistance for irrigation districts, as well as applied research in GIS-based management systems and rapid assessment methods for prioritized rehabilitation projects based on water saving potential.
To learn more about IDEA and its many projects, programs and educational opportunities, visit http://idea.tamu.edu.
