After the Flood: Retrofi tting Austin’s Urban Core to Accommodate Growth - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 68

historian describes the storm drains sticking out of the banks of Waller
Creek as mouths of cannons, poised to erase the prehuman attributes of
the creek. 9 Today, the sanitary sewer and stormwater networks are an
integral part of the urban creeks. They create a tightly coupled hybrid
system of nature and technology, with stormwater fl ows mixing with the
creek water and a subsurface pipe carrying sanitary waste volumes to the
wastewater treatment plant downstream and east of the city.
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
The historic record of Austin reveals a long history of the municipal gov-
ernment and urban residents languishing due to the high frequency of
devastating fl oods. The threat of fl ooding in Austin's urban core has re-
sulted in a municipal strategy with a primary goal of protecting lives and
property from periodic storm events. The fl ashy or volatile character of
hydrologic fl ows is readily apparent in eroded or heavily armored creek
banks, large concrete cobble, and trash lodged high up in the trees after
severe storms. Walking along the creeks of Austin reveals the collusion
between the impervious surfaces of the city and the violent hydrologic
regime that has produced numerous fl oods in Austin over the years (see
fi gure 4.2). 10 A staff member of the City of Austin's Watershed Protection
Figure 4.2
The 1915 fl ood of Waller Creek in downtown Austin. Source : PICA 04088, Austin History
Center, Austin Public Library.