The Future of Drinking Water
Houston Texas is no stranger to flooding events – nor to the litany of problems flooding can create, including how it can affect drinking water quality and availability – potentially creating health crises.
Houston has made positive efforts to mitigate flooding through engineering and gray infrastructure, but the need for additional mitigation is still great.
Trees and forests act as natural mitigation for flooding.
Proactive forest conservation and tree management can help prevent flooding in urban environments.
City planners need to collaborate with forestry and flooding experts to create and maintain more natural infrastructure to mitigate damage from large scale flooding. There is also a need for regulatory agencies to step in and provide baseline for efforts that must be taken to mitigate flood disasters.
Healthy forests are critical to the future of our drinking water.
Southeastern Partnership for Forests and Water http://southeasternpartnership.org
Southern Group of State Foresters www.southernforests.org