Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
principal goal of protecting water quality pits environmental protection
against social equity.
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East Austin's development can be attributed to both cultural and envi-
ronmental infl uences. The city historically developed with minority popu-
lations to the east of Waller Creek and downriver from the rest of the
city, where light industrial activities were intermingled with residents on
smaller, more affordable lots.
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The creek served as a natural delineation
between Anglo populations to the west and African American populations
to the east (Latino populations resided on both sides). As Austin grew, the
segregation of the city was institutionalized through comprehensive plan-
ning documents and infrastructure provision. The most blatant instance of
spatial segregation is summarized in the
1928 City Plan
prepared by the
Dallas engineering fi rm Koch and Fowler, which noted the ineffi ciencies
of providing dual municipal facilities for Anglo and African American
populations throughout the city. The plan recommended that services for
African Americans be restricted to the largely minority neighborhoods of
East Austin.
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Subsequent municipal policies promoted an increasingly
segregated city while being careful to avoid unconstitutional municipal
regulations. The western push of urban development beginning in the
1970s and the related water quality politics can be attributed in part as a
desire by middle- and upper-income Anglo residents to be located away
from East Austin.
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Similar to its population, East Austin's hydrologic conditions differ
signifi cantly from the rest of the city. Its location downriver from the
central business district and at the bottom of several highly urbanized
watersheds effectively makes East Austin the hydrologic drain for the city.
Development of the creek headwaters in this part of the city began in the
1950s and peaked in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in severe fl ooding and
erosion problems downstream. These erosion problems were exacerbated
by urban development patterns that situated buildings on small lots close
to the creeks. In the late 1980s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers chan-
nelized East Austin's main waterway, Boggy Creek, to stabilize the creek
slopes and protect residents and dwellings from harm (see fi gure 4.7). A
local engineer states: “These channelization projects came about using
the engineering of the day; there wasn't much thought about any kind of
geomorphic constraints or habitat—it was just pure fl ood control to get
the stormwater in a channel as small as possible and get it out. By having
a smaller channel, you have less easement to buy, which affects project
costs. The concrete trapezoidal channels were a normal way of business
for fl ood control.”
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