Briefing Regarding NextGen Flood Warning System Upgrades Program (0750)

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

In August, Bexar County, the City of San Antonio, and the San Antonio River Authority (River Authority), through the Bexar Regional Watershed Management Partnership (BRWM), announced the launch of the Next Generation (NextGen) Flood Warning System and Resilient Infrastructure Program. This initiative was designed to bring technology, modern infrastructure, and public outreach together, with the goal of saving lives during future storms. Since then, Bexar County has committed funding in the FY26 budget, and the River Authority has allocated additional funding to expand the reach of the program into Wilson, Karnes, and Goliad Counties. The program includes repairs and upgrades to existing gauges, installation of new gauges, improvements to and consolidation of data acquisition and processing, development of more informative flood alerts, the next version of the predictive flood model (PFM 3.0), and public education and outreach. Additional channels of communication are also being explored. These tasks are being implemented with the goal of getting information to the people who need it before flood impacts occur. The River Authority is leading the technical aspects of the initiative. Tasks were divided into "First Wave" and "Second Wave" categories. Work is underway on "First Wave" tasks while additional research and information gathering occurs for "Second Wave" tasks. In the First Wave, progress is being made on repairs to existing gauges, development of flood stage alerts, and sharing of current data into more navigation applications. In preparation for the Second Wave, meetings have been held with multiple organizations, from the National Weather Service to other government entities with flood alert/warning systems to private sector specialists. Through these meetings and other research, the team is gathering information on current and cutting-edge technology for incorporation into individual projects' scopes of work. In parallel, meetings with stakeholders and related data gathering on existing infrastructure and systems have occurred and are informing the work. Implementation of the Second Wave of work will begin over the next couple of months.