July 2025 Vol. 80 No. 7
Features
30th CIGMAT conference focuses on flooding, energy and infrastructure resilience
(UI) — Organized by the Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology (CIGMAT) and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, the 30th annual, 2025 Conference and Exhibition was held at the University’s Hilton Hotel on March 7.
Over 300 people participated in the one-day "Infrastructure, Energy, Geotechnical, Flooding and Sustainable Issues Related to Houston and Other Major Cities." Attendees represented owners, consulting engineers, material supplies, contractors and academia.
Welcome remarks by Professor C. Vipulanandan, director of CIGMAT and Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology (THC-IT), focused on the need for such a conference in highlighting major cities’ experience with rapid growth in the population, development and application of new technologies and economic activities, with changing conditions and regulations.
Houston is the energy capital of the United States with the largest medical center in the world. There is an ever-increasing need for expanding the infrastructures, meeting the energy demand and integrating the advances in technologies to meet the population growth and industrial expansion with the impact of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, winter-storms and flooding.
General session
The General Session focused on expanding the highway transportation infrastructures and controlling traffic congestion, innovative solutions for public works and the offshore energy production around the world, for the next few decades.
Glenn Allbritton, the new district engineer (Houston), Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), discussed some of the major challenges on highways related to expansion, traffic congestion, accidents and annual deaths. He also covered the many safety issues during driving and accidents. Other topics were related to environmental issues, maintenance and funding for TxDOT.
Randy Macchi, recently appointed director of the city of Houston Public Works (HPW), discussed recent updates on construction management programs, debris management and new plans for continuing various Houston operations with the growing population. Also, issues related to construction and maintenance of city side streets on expansive clays were discussed.
Sid Mebarkia, Chevron Fellow, discussed the production and delivery of oil and gas from offshore, including the importance and challenges in construction and maintenance of deep subsea pipeline infrastructures for the transport of oil, gas, and other products across vast distances beneath the ocean floor. These pipelines are critical components of the global energy supply chain, enabling the safe and efficient movement of resources from offshore production facilities to onshore processing facilities or distribution points.
However, like all infrastructures, subsea pipelines are subject to a range of issues and challenges that can affect their operation and integrity. Smart monitoring systems and smart networks will help provide real-time data to not only safeguard the pipeline infrastructures but also optimize its operation. New and smart materials will be used to increase the robustness of the deep subsea pipeline infrastructures.
Technical sessions
Four technical sessions were held on various topics to highlight the growth, challenges and changes happening in and around major cities.
The first panel discussion was on the "Flooding, Construction and Maintenance Issues,” Ataul Hannan, director of Planning at the Harris County flood Control District (HCFCD), discussed HCFCD’s approaches and processes to keep models and maps up to date. Effective models and data were disseminated by FEMA’s contractors.
The acquisition of computer models is time-consuming, and it’s often difficult to locate the correct models. By localizing this task, the community will be better served by being able to acquire accurate and detailed data in a timely manner. HCFCD is the first CTP approved by FEMA to begin the systematic model and map maintenance process. This is a story of community engagement for keeping the model and map current.
The goal of Model Management at HCFCD is to manage a master set of current and accurate hydrologic and hydraulic models and their supporting data. HCFCD developed a supporting tool for model management, the Model and Map Management (M3) system, which will track on-going projects related to floodplain change in the highly active floodplain-related development environment of Harris County.
Next, was a joint presentation on “A New Approach to an Old Idea, Reducing Flooding Along Buffalo and White Oak Bayous,” by Jeff Mitchell, HDR Inc., and Kevin Hammond, city of Houston. This North Canal Project includes design and construction of watershed level drainage improvements for segments of both bayous.
The concept for the North Canal diversion channel began in the 1980s. In the mid-2010s, the Flood Control District initiated the precursor to the North Canal channel design. Following Hurricane Harvey, in 2018, the City of Houston and Harris County received $2.3 billion for disaster relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP); administered by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM). In 2019, TDEM issued a sub-grant to the City of Houston to initiate design for the proposed North Canal High Flow Diversion Channel project.
Ravi Kaleyatodi, senior assistant director, city of Houston, discussed the city’s Northeast and East water treatment plant projects. Currently 84 percent of Houston water sources is surface water from the Trinity River and San Jacinto River with the three purification plants. Also, 14 percent of the water sources are from deep wells in Evangeline and Chicot aquifers.
Based on the Subsidence Board Regulations, by January 2025, 60 percent of the water demand must be supplied by surface water, and it increased to 80 percent by January 2035. Northeast water purification plant (NEWPP) project is estimated to be $3 billion. The East Water Purification Plant (EWPP) is estimated to be number three, to $4.25 billion. In addition, new technologies will be integrated into the new projects to increase durability and safety.
This session was moderated by Rafael Ortega from Aurora Technical Services, Houston, Texas.
A second, parallel session on “Infrastructures and Transportation Projects” was moderated by Daniel Wong from Tolunay-Wong Engineers, Houston.
Joe Zimmerman, mayor of Sugar Land, Texas, discussed “Critical Infrastructure: Energy, Industry, Mobility, and Safety.” Additional topics were related to population growth, residential and commercial development and priorities for budget allocations.
Ram Mothe, deputy director of Harris County Toll Road Authority discussed ongoing projects and plans for Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA), which was established in 1988. The current tollway system is about 130 centerline miles and provides mobility options throughout the Houston-Harris County region. There are several Heavy Maintenance packages set to advertise this year, including drainage improvements, bridge maintenance and roadway improvement projects.
Water, wastewater issue
After the lunch break, the third session, “Water and Wastewater Issues,” was moderated by Venus Price from Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam, Houston, Texas.
Aaron K. Schindewolf, from the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA), covered current and future infrastructure initiatives. Created by the Texas Legislature in 1937 (Article 8280-121, as amended), SJRA is a government agency whose mission is to develop, conserve and protect the water resources of the San Jacinto River basin. Encompassing all or part of seven counties, the organization’s jurisdiction includes the entire San Jacinto River watershed, excluding Harris County.
SJRA is one of 10 major river authorities in the State of Texas, and like other river authorities, its primary purpose is to implement long-term, regional projects related to water supply and wastewater treatment. SJRA has five separate operating divisions: The Lake Conroe Division, the Woodlands Division, the Highlands Division, the Groundwater Reduction Plan (GRP) Division, and the Flood Management Division. Except for the Flood Management Division, the operating divisions operate and maintain a wide variety of infrastructure that is critical to meeting the needs of SJRA’s customers.
SJRA operates and maintains infrastructure to provide raw and treated water supply and wastewater treatment services to numerous customers in Montgomery and eastern Harris County. These customers range from large, industrial complexes, to agricultural farms, to Municipal Utilities Districts (MUDs), to property owners on Lake Conroe, to multiple municipalities.
In all cases, SJRA must plan accordingly for the next 10-50 years to both maintain current infrastructure and build or expand existing infrastructure to meet future expanded customer needs. Since 2017, SJRA has completed and annually updated 10-Year Project Plan (5-years prior 2017) that encompasses projects to newly construct, rehabilitate, repair, replace or expand the infrastructure required for serving its customers.
Willie Chastain, Geoscientist-Innovative Water Technologies (IWT) from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), discussed aquifer storage and recovery in Texas, with a case study focused on the San Jacinto River Authority. The mission of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is to lead the state's efforts in ensuring a secure water future for Texas and its citizens. To accomplish this goal, the TWDB provides water planning, data collection, financial assistance, and technical assistance services across the state.
IWT was created in 2002 and is focused on alternative water supplies, including aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) and aquifer recharge (AR). ASR uses injection wells for the storage and subsequent recovery of water within an aquifer for beneficial use. AR is the intentional recharge of an aquifer through an injection well or other means of infiltration at the surface. In Texas, ASR and AR have been used to store and recharge surface water, groundwater, and reclaimed water. Both technologies are of growing interest across the state due to increasing demand for water and overutilization of other, more traditional supplies.
In 2019, the 86th Texas Legislature passed HB 721, which tasked TWDB with two ASR- and AR-related legislative mandates. The first of these mandates was to conduct a statewide survey to determine the relative suitability of all Texas aquifers for ASR and AR. The second was to work with interested people to conduct studies on ASR and AR across the state.
One IWT project is an aquifer characterization to support a potential future ASR project for SJRA, in Montgomery and Harris counties, focused on the Jasper aquifer of the Gulf Coast aquifer system. The Jasper aquifer is upper Oligocene to middle Miocene age and includes the Oakville Sandstone and the Lower Lagarto Formation, primarily composed of interbedded sands and clays deposited in fluvial and coastal plain environments.
This area of the Gulf Coast aquifer system is characterized by normal faults that run parallel to shore, which create additional stratigraphic complexity. Data for this project was gathered from several sources including oil and gas geophysical logs, water well geophysical and drillers logs, and surficial geology maps. This presentation discussed the preliminary stratigraphic and lithologic analyses for this study and what work is currently ongoing.
Jan B. Conant, coatings specialist at Warren Environmental, discussed recent Houston area projects involving a high-built epoxy coating for protecting and rehabilitating critical infrastructure assets. One of the best applications for 100-percent solids epoxy coating is protecting or rehabilitating wastewater lift station wet wells. These environments can be very aggressive to concrete due to falling and splashing, agitation, and constantly changing levels of wastewater. As a result, they typically have high hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas readings and low pH levels, which deteriorates the concrete walls, often in a short amount of time.
Final sessions
Grady Prestage, commissioner for Precinct 2 Fort Bend County, delivered the 19th Mike O’Neill Lecture on “Fort Bend County Infrastructures and Developments.” Prestage has over 30 years of experience as an elected commission in the rapidly growing Fort Bend County. Infrastructure developments depend on many factors including regulations, available fundings and available lands. Also, flooding in the area had to be considered for future planning.
This was followed by C. Vipulanandan speaking on “Smart Cement Modified with A Polymer to Detect and Control Fluid Loss and Gas Leaks Using Vipulanandan Curing, Fluid Loss and Fluid Flow Models.”
In the construction and petroleum industries, cement has been used for multiple applications and there is need for further enhancement of the sensing properties and mechanical properties of the cement to also detect gas leaks.
In this study, highly sensing chemo-thermo-piezoresistive smart cement, with a water-to-cement ratio of 0.38, was investigated with the addition of a polymer on the effects of various sensing properties. Quality control, curing and high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) experiments were performed to evaluate the smart cement behavior with and without the commercially available styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) polymer.
A reception followed the technical sessions in the Exhibit area, where posters on research activities at CIGMAT and in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering were on display. A number of grouting, pipe manufacturers, material suppliers, pipe condition monitoring, geotechnical engineering and wastewater rehabilitation companies participated in the exhibition.
A CIGMAT 2025 Conference Proceedings was published and is posted on the CIGMAT website.
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