Spring Creek Watershed
About the Watershed
The Spring Creek watershed is located across northern Harris County. Most of the watershed is located outside of Harris County. It extends across the southern area of Montgomery County and into Waller and Grimes counties. The watershed serves about half of the City of Tomball and the Woodlands/I-45 area in southern Montgomery County. It covers about 284 square miles, of which only about 60 square miles are within Harris County. Spring Creek, the watershed's single primary stream, forms the northern boundary of Harris County, west of its confluence with the West Fork San Jacinto River. There are about 111 miles of open streams within the watershed, including the primary stream and tributary channels. The estimated population within the watershed (Harris County portion) is just over 33,000.
Spring Creek is basically natural and therefore characterized by limited conveyance capacity in the channel and a larger natural floodplain. However, the lack of development in much of the watershed has kept flood damage to a minimum. The isolated incidents along the main channel are normally from structures built in naturally flood-prone areas. Most flooding cases in Harris County are adjacent to the tributaries in the Tomball area. A regional plan has not been developed for Spring Creek since most of the watershed is in other counties and the incidence of structural damage in Harris County is low.
Land Use
The watershed remains mostly undeveloped with the exception of the Woodlands and the City of Tomball, although isolated pockets of development exist in other locations. Development is expected to continue as the Woodlands, Tomball and other existing communities expand.
Environment
With the undeveloped conditions of the watershed, a diverse environment exists that includes large heavily wooded areas. The level of environmental sensitivity is very high. There are numerous county parks along the main channel in the lower reaches of the watershed. The watershed also includes portions the recharge zone for the Chicot aquifer system, which is an important groundwater source for southeastern Harris County and Galveston County.
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