Local
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1981
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Study of flooded home A&M housing, sprinklers lauded
areas could be of use
People with homes seriously damaged by high
water across Central Texas may like this bit of advice:
a Texas A&M researcher says government officials
should refrain from helping victims rebuild in areas
r with a high risk of flooding, but should purchase
4 those homes at a fair market price.
“It is extremely important for city, state and feder
al officials to fully evaluate the cause and effect of
flooding and damage before a single solution is ap-
ssistance plied,” said Dr. Christopher Mathewson, a geology
n access tt professor and authority on hydrology,
this, then! He explained that flood problems are a complex
beserioi: ,n * xture of both land and water management,
r entire sv Simply clearing some small vegetation along
' urban creeks and rivers and maintaining the channel
r of Vireiit^ >et ^ s cou ^ reduce the flood risk to many homes that
, would otherwise be damaged, Mathewson said,
as is a “Homes that can’t be economically protected —
'at tilt both from a financial and environmental standpoint
Kepublict— may be better off being purchased with public
lest begir funds at a fair price.”
as preside Besides easing the cost of flood recovery, such a
ion in lfcpl an would allow homeowners to retain most of the
a justice investment they had made, Mathewson said. “It
dby aRfn wou ^ ^ >e a s ^ a,ne if flood victims couldn’t afford to
move to a safer location because they can’t sell their
houses at fair market value,” he said.
tice Pont
Mathewson also said nearby landowners could be
® ut c given the option of buying the easily flooded lots with
Equal).the understanding that no structures be placed
caption ( there.
t buildiM He says the floodplains are too valuable a resource
leal ofor to abandon. They can be used as parks, landscaped
hichoure£ reener y> large backyards, parkinglots, outside stor-
tral to t r a ® e areas ih* 1 * can l 56 cleared on short notice, or other
. i. resources that would not be damaged by rising water
j. . ■— but not as a safe place to live.
religion 1 It is not economically feasible to provide complete
al that j^D ro t ec ti on f or every conceivable flood like the ones
have killed 22 people in Central Texas since
norial Day, Mathewson said, but an integrated
and water management program can lessen the
*ge-
Me often forget that for any flood for which a
3m is designed, there will always be another of
ter intensity,” said Mathewson, author of a new
<, “Engineering Geology,” which includes por-
|s on flooding.
e said rains that fall on rapidly developing urban
s today can cause high water where it was never a
>lem yesterday.
“ *Ve can demand improved runoff from growing
C ;s such as housing developments and shopping
3 ters, but we refuse to be responsible for that
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water once it enters the creek area because the
creeks belong to nature,” Mathewson said.
More streets, gutters, curbs, parking lots and
slanted roofs boost runoff from heavy rains while
improved sewage systems increase the rate at which
water is dumped into city rivers and streams, leading
to flooding, he said.
He suggests that shopping centers install smaller
pipes, and that the outer limits of the parking lot be
designed to hold a maximum of six inches of rain
water during the heaviest downpours, decreasing
the rate at which water enters urban creeks.
Other engineering designs such as flat-topped
roofs capable of holding and supporting the weight of
some rain could help reduce damage, while provid
ing extra energy conservation against hot Texas sum
mers, he said.
A 24-hour flood warning system similar to those
used for tornadoes would allow time to clear parking
lots, storage areas or objects of value in flood-prone
regions, Mathewson said. Clearing a few bottlenecks
in streams could drop the high-water mark a few feet
at low financial and ecological costs to the cities and
still eliminate much of the damage.
Dr. Kenneth Brundidge, a professor of meteorolo
gy at Texas A&M, said the heavy rains plaguing the
Hill Country are the result of routine storm systems
that stalled. Their rain, he said, was triggered by an
outside force like a cold front.
“The rain is produced in the warm, moist air from
the Gulf that moves inland. The rain is released,
however, by some other disturbance acting on the
moist air, such as a low-pressure area or a cold front
passing through,” he explained.
Despite the heavy rains, the storm systems are not
unusual at all for this of year, said Brundidge.
“This is much like the wet spring we had last year
just before the record heat wave and dry spell be
gan,” he said.
Records from the State Climatologist’s Office at
Texas A&M show that in 1980, the month of May was
the wettest in 25 years for some portions of the state
even though one of the worst dry spells since the ’50s
began a few weeks later.
Other documents from the Climatologist’s Office
indicate water levels in major Texas reservoirs had
already reached a total of nearly 25 million acre-feet
by late April, and the current flooding is expected to
add to the total.
During the 1970s, Texas lakes have held a high of
about 28 million acre-feet while the total conserva
tion level for major reservoirs is approximately 32
million acre-feet.
IZ udents seek employment
3 .
:c
Jobs cut college costs
J .8 federal financial aid for college and university
ents dries up, students may be looking for part-
; employment to make ends meet while getting
f education.
At Texas A&M University, more than 6,000 stu-
lents already participate annually in on-campus
vork programs. Student financial aid officials report
hat jobs are plentiful — if the student is willing to
vork and isn’t too picky about the kind of work he or
he does.
This year the on-campus payroll to student work
ers was more than $3 million, said Clair Fink of the
"exas A&M student financial aid office, and that does
tot include salaries paid to some 2,000 graduate
ssistants and research assistants.
In addition to the on-campus jobs, the Bryan-
>ollege Station community :—which is experiencing
ne of the greatest growth patterns in the state —
ffers a plethora of job opportunities. Many are post-
d on campus bulletin boards and some are never
lied.
A student’s ability to work is affected by class
dhedule, grade average and desire, said Fink.
Those who work for the University receive at least
3.64 an hour.
0 i 1 About 20 percent of the on-campus jobs are short
lilt
term, lasting only a few days, Fink said. These in
clude handling registration cards and working in the
bookstore during the opening days of each semester,
processing mail-outs for various research projects
and distributing the yearbook.
Long-term jobs include work in the University’s
dining halls, which employ about 200 students each
semester, intramural athletics, which uses about 300
students for officials and referees for various sports,
and clerical positions in almost all campus depart
ments.
“The jobs range from milking cows to parking lot
attendant to data processor,” Fink said.
In addition to the normal job offers posted on
financial aid office bulletin boards, students meeting
financial need criteria may participate in a work-
study program.
Texas A&M has $300,000 in funds for this program
this year, Fink said.
Under the program, the University pays 80 per
cent of the student worker’s salary and the em
ploying department pays 20 percent in fringe be
nefits.
The average student works about 10 to 15 hours a
week, Fink estimated, and earns from $600 to $1,000
during the year.
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Two innovative programs to reduce campus
operating costs have resulted in recognition for
Texas A&M University by the National Asso
ciation of College and University Business
Officers and the U.S. Steel Foundation.
Texas A&M’s centralized, radio-controlled
landscaping irrigation system which uses a
radio signal to activate lawn sprinklers
throughout the 5,000-acre campus was cited
for the University’s innovative use of movable
wall dividers in married student apartments to
allow tenants to determine interior arrange
ment and use of floor space.
The movable wall dividers also permit the
apartments to be adapted to accomodate four
single students or a married couple. The esti
mated savings are $53,000 a year.
Texas A&M is one of 29 winners in the sixth
annual Cost Reduction Incentive Awards
Program sponsored by the college and univer
sity business officers organization and U.S.
Steel.
Last year the same group cited Texas A&M
for the innovative modular dormitory con
struction concept.
brings you
July 4th
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Clarke-Duke Project
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Mi-Fidelity
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Ze-Bop
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Loverboy
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Blizard Of Oz
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Guilty
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Turnback
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Coconut Telegraph
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Fancy Free
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hard Promises
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The Shake RusselUDana Cooper Band
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Carnival
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Share Your Love
Greatest Mits
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Mistaken Identity
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Mature of The Beast
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Killers
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The One That You Love
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Crimes Of Passion
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Turn Of A Friendly Card
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Long Distance Voyager
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Another Ticket
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Paradise Theater
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Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Back In Black
4 DYNAMITE SALE DAYS
PHIL COLLINS
Face Value
CHRISTOPHER CROSS
Christopher Cross
DIRE STRAITS
Making Movies
JOHN LENNON/YOKO ONO
Double Fantasy
STEPHANE GRAPPELLI/DAVID GRISMAN
Live
THIRD WORLD
Rock The World
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND
Dedicated
LEE RITTENOUR
Rit
DAVID SANBORN
hideaway
STAR ON
Stars On Long Play
JOE WALSH
These Goes The neighborhood
GROVER WASHINGTON
Wine light
STEVE WINWOOD
Arc Of A Diver
MANHATTAN TRANSFER
Mecca For Modems
The WHO
Face Dances
GEORGE HARRISON
Somewhere In England
VAN HALEN
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YOKO ONO
Season of Glass
ELTON JOHN
The Fox
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