City leaders say a new pump station in Dallas is going to help control flooding in an underserved part of the city.
The city celebrated the new station at a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday along with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The Charlie pump station is really complimentary towards the Dallas floodway system,” said Col. Calvin Kroeger. “The safety and health of our community, as well as the sound operations of the Dallas floodway are absolutely our number one priority.”
Once it’s built the station, located near Jefferson Boulevard and Brazos Street, will be able to pump up to 225,000 gallons of water per minute during heavy flooding events along the Trinity River.
The $350 million project was funded through Supplemental Appropriation in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Construction on the new station began this past summer, but the groundbreaking ceremony had been postponed until this week.
While the city currently has working pump stations along the levees, many of them were built nearly a century ago in the 1930s. District 1 council member Chad West said the new station will improve on that existing infrastructure.
“This is really not for tomorrow or next year, because our pump station that we have now is still good for that, but it's really for the next 10, 20 or 30 years in the future,” West said.
District 4 council member Carolyn King Arnold said the pump station will improve the quality life for residents in southern Dallas, including Cadillac Heights and Cedar Crest.
“I cannot stress enough the importance of alleviating this impact that is a threat to this community, and also it's going to be a positive down the road,” Arnold said.
District 6 council member Omar Narvaez, who also chairs the city’s transportation and infrastructure committee, added that the station will contribute to economic development for communities south of the Trinity River.
“It's transformational for this entire area, everything along the levees on both sides, but especially the protection,” Narvaez said.
The Charlie pump station is expected to be completed in late 2025 and begin operating by mid-2026.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org. You can follow him on X @pabloaarauz.
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