How Flood Tunnels Work

Who doesn't love a good tunnel?
Many cities across the world maximize the use of valuable land on earth’s surface by taking advantage of the space underneath for bypassing floods. This video discusses some of the challenges and solutions to these massive projects.
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Practical Engineering is a KZbin channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!
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DISCLAIMER
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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.
SPECIAL THANKS
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This video is sponsored by HelloFresh.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Shutterstock, and Videoblocks.
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator
Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Source: • Elexive - Tonic and En...
Video by Grady Hillhouse
Edited by Wesley Crump
Script Edit by Ralph Crewe
Production Assistance from Josh Lorenz
Graphics by Nebula Studios

[@PracticalEngineeringChannel]

🥑 Simplify your dinners with code PRACTICAL16 at bit.ly/3Ws1PYm 📚 Did you know I wrote a book? There are still some signed copies left at store.practical.engineering/

[@Peter_Enis]

The tunnels can also be a great source of energy to provide a city with its electricity needs?

[@mikek9297]

Nice timing on this one

[@JithinJose2]

Hi, another nice video again, but just for understanding, why not increase the depth of the river instead of building tunnel?

[@owenselkirk3950]

Question why not just put a filter on the end so when the sludge comes out it gets filtered? prob a bad idea but if anyone can answer that would be awesome :)

[@billsauer3164]

​@@Peter_Enishuh? 😂

[@assortedsubscriptions4012]

I love this channel because it legit tells me about these cool civil engineering systems and areas if study I had no idea actually existed...

[@FLAIR__]

one of the best out there, easy to digest info too.

[@bradleybatt1401]

likewise

[@SECONDQUEST]

Yeah there needs to be more outreach education about civil engineering. Too many people just think water go in the ground and disappears

[@EvanMoon]

Legit

[@d00mf00d]

Straight sus bruh

[@Taladar2003]

I think one important consideration that isn't modelled in your model is that the bottom of building basements and subway tunnels is significantly below the point where river banks overflow so even just a few centimeters above the bank can fill up whole basements.

[@WyvernYT]

That's a valid point, but fortunately it's one we all know; it would be awkward to build model basements.

[@CptJistuce]

Basements aren't particularly common in Texas, so it's an easy oversight. Between the wide swaths of open land and a frost line very close to the surface, there's little reason to dig down very far. And while I don't know about his area, mine has very clay-rich soil that expands and contracts a LOT with rain. This makes basements actively undesirable, as the expanding and contracting soil places immense crushing stress on underground structures before pulling away far enough to remove support.

[@RobinTheBot]

​@@CptJistuce they can be built to handle it if you're willing to pay extra, and they end up better able to resist foundation damage than standard houses... No one pays extra when they're a developer though.

[@conorstewart2214]

@@CptJistuce in his last video he talks about the concrete in his garage cracking due to the clay rich soil.

[@lightfeather9953]

​​@@RobinTheBot would you rather they spend their investment on unnecessary basements or on more living space? They're not just magically pocketing extra profits by not building basements. Would you if you were building your own house?

[@Z4G.]

Grady, these vids are the reason you are in a league of your own. No one is able to explain in such detail from experience and have the handy-ness to build something to visualize what you are talking about. Top notch effort my man, you deserve all the success.

[@Didnt_ask69]

Cringe

[@Kynk]

​@@Didnt_ask69 I read both comments and the only cringe I got was from you. That's pretty embarrassing for you.

[@Didnt_ask69]

@@Kynk didn’t ask

[@Kynk]

@@Didnt_ask69 why would I do something you asked? Why would anyone do anything you asked? That's awfully bold of you to assume that people care what you think.

[@MarsTheX]

@@Didnt_ask69 nobody asked if you didn’t ask (if you reply to this nobody asked)

[@RealEngineering]

I was at a concert in waterloo park last week and was wondering this exact thing

[@speeddaemon6557]

They had to build something similar to the Tokyo system here in Dallas when they rebuilt hwy 75 during the 90s. The highway got moved from the surface down into a huge concrete canyon that can collect rainwater faster than any feasible storm drainage system could handle. There are massive underground caverns 100ft below Uptown to store it until it can be safely released into the storm drainage system (Cole Park Storm Water Detention Vault). It's so well hidden that basically no one knows it exists.

[@LillianCrawfishDE]

I'd love to see an episode on this! What do you think, Grady?

[@anathardayaldar]

Sounds like a great place to film a movie chase scene.

[@DavidHalko]

I would love to see a KZbin clip in this!

[@radarksu]

@@DavidHalko kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2WcdXePjdSVbZo

[@jasonalbert6251]

I love the name. “Storm Water Detention Vault”. You are being detained on suspicion of attempting to flood Dallas. The court finds you guilty and sentences you to confinement in the SWDV.

[@johnfrian]

This is the only channel that can make a 15 minute video about an underground tube, and keep me captivated from start to end.

[@shanebusch8102]

I am a mechanical engineer and I hated my civil engineering courses in college but man do I love these videos. Keep up the great work Grady 😁

[@giangtran-to6tb]

ok

[@TiocfaidhArLa34]

you know what they say, mechanical engineers build the weapons and civil engineers build the targets.

[@rockys7726]

@@TiocfaidhArLa34 that's the only thing I remember during my ME education. lol

[@misterg1157]

Did anyone else do a 180? I thought “Boring!” when he said (at 1:30): “As I always say, the only thing cooler than a huge tunnel is a huge tunnel that carries lots of water and protects us from floods” (yawn!), only to switch to “This is so cooool!” when he then showed his acrylic model.

[@hansisbrucker813]

Thank you for mentioning the metric units too. It really helps 😊👍

[@iteerrex8166]

All of science is metric, the whole world is metric, but we’re stuck in this old British system. I know it costs a lot to convert, but we gotta start sooner or later.

[@Merennulli]

​@@iteerrex8166 We have started. It's not a bandaid to be ripped off, it's structures and infrastructure to be replaced and people to be convinced. More and more infrastructure is quietly being replaced in forms like manufacturers using metric tooling and gauges and instruments used by the public having both units. But while it's easy to dictate an office change to metric, it's not easy to convince people that conversion is better for them because it very obviously isn't. They aren't meaningfully impacted by it, and they don't meaningfully impact others by using customary units. The people who do, like all companies contracting with NASA for example, have converted because they had a clear benefit to it. For the average person, it's a high cost for someone else's ego over unit superiority. Once most tools and products are in metric, public conversion will come naturally because it will be useful to them. And as for the road signs, that conversion won't need to be made by humans. Driverless cars may still be decades away from taking over, but they are inevitable, and they won't get mixed up reading metric and driving 70mph in a 70kph zone.

[@iteerrex8166]

@@Merennulli I know most if not all the reasons and problems, I just would like us to get there.

[@Merennulli]

@@iteerrex8166 I quite understand that feeling. I doubt I will live long enough to be on human driver free roads in a metric US, but I at least know there is a world coming where the world is fully metric and our descendants can argue about important things like which ball is a "football". :)

[@iteerrex8166]

@@Merennulli oh don’t even get me started on football lol

[@josiahcox7313]

Top quality content as always! I really love the discussion of real world examples coupled with your home-made example creations! If anyone out there is wondering, Grady's book is similarly awesome!

[@gus473]

Agreed! The grandkids love looking at pictures to "see what Daddy does" at work and to find "Little Engineer" hidden in the illustrations! 😎✌️

[@Crunch_dGH]

I’ve tried Hello Fresh & other similar “solutions” & found the burden of non-recyclable shipping & packaging to be nothing short of disgustingly obscene. How does he reconcile that fact with his presumed forward looking & sustainable perspective?

[@giangtran-to6tb]

ok

[@stephan5279]

As a person who lives in Vienna, I suggest you have a look how we figured out to manage floods from the danube river... ;)

[@AR_Wald]

❤insel

[@davidfalterman8713]

I know learning about infrastructure is the point, and it’s still mainly why I enjoy this channel, but I also have to say, I love the glimpses we’ve gotten of your family growing in the Hello Fresh ad segments over the years too. What a lovely little household you have, Grady!

[@revenevan11]

I was thinking that at the end of this video, too!

[@Crunch_dGH]

Hmm. I’ve tried Hello Fresh & other similar “solutions” & found the burden of non-recyclable shipping & packaging to be nothing short of disgustingly obscene. How does he reconcile that fact with his presumed forward looking & sustainable perspective?

[@talkingdot]

Tokyo's underground thing is SO AMAZING if you ever take a trip to Japan you have to do a video on it because it is amazing

[@kennethkowalchuk7868]

Interesting, thanks. I have driven through the Kuala Lumpur SMART tunnel in Malaysia which is a multi-use tunnel allowing water and traffic movement and I believe has proven to be of great value since its commissioning.

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

Same!

[@irvalfirestar6265]

Same here, but as a passenger. Truly a marvelous piece of engineering to be able to fit road traffic within a flood tunnel and having the road still be serviceable through multiple mode 4 activations 16 years on.

[@TheByard]

I worked as Senior Inspector of Works on the Smart tunnel project. The idea of a dual use tunnel came from a bidding contractor who won the build contract. To enable escape stairways were mined by hand methods outside the TBM driven tunnel lined with concrete section rings. Two road decks installed carries traffic in both directions and the invert of the tunnel carries light rain storm water.

[@brianjgraf]

This is awesome. My dad was the District Engineer for the Corps of Engineers when San Antonio was building their tunnel. It was awesome to get lowered by a crane in a man cage down the bore and see the TBM. Very cool stuff. Thanks for the memories!

[@lateoclock4281]

The sparkly water in the demo is so cool and pretty! It makes it easy to see the flow and turbulence too. Thanks for the video :)

[@DanPeacock]

I trained as an Electrical Engineer (focusing on computers) but I am ALWAYS interested in how stuff works. I come at these with an eye to find some nugget of knowledge and I am never disappointed.

[@Peter_S_]

Another EE here with focus on embedded hardware who thinks this channel is gold.

[@someonerandom704]

CEG here checking in

[@rutgerw.]

If only Electrical Engineers were as smart as Civil Engineers, our delicate circuits wouldn’t get fried every time there is a surge😜

[@Peter_S_]

@@rutgerw. You have no idea.....

[@rutgerw.]

@@Peter_S_ I don’t, but a varistor might do the trick?

[@Maniacalcoin]

Since you talked about this, can you talk about the red river flow-way in Winnipeg? "duffs ditch". It's been described as a modern marvel of engineering and is basically just a big ditch to prevent flooding. Fargo in ND are working on something similar now.

[@tasdasd3856]

As an Civil Engineer and someone from Winnipeg, the flood way is a "marvel" only due to it's scale IMO. It quite literally is a big ditch around the city and there is little novel innovations that I am aware of that were developed for it. A fun side note, the reason the Red River floods so much is that the river flows South to North, so the southern part melts before the northern end causing massive ice dams that back the river up. They often use explosives and floating excavators to try and keep the ice broken up and moving.

[@Serahpin]

@@tasdasd3856 K.I.S.S.

[@heidirabenau511]

​@@Serahpin I see that you are mentioning the KISS train family built by Stadler, I think it's a great train!

[@rodchallis8031]

@@tasdasd3856 In fairness to Chef Coin, since the creation of "Metrolinx" in Ontario, any project that is a)Finished and b)Works constitutes an "Engineering Marvel" these days in Canada. ;)

[@Charles-hq7ce]

I dont know why but ive always liked water drainage systems. Most kinds of engineering are cool, but theirs something special about structures that control water. It always just reminds me of when i was 5 in my gravel driveway, digging channels from one flooded pothole to the next and watching it flow, then trying to see how many rocks i needed to plug the stream or make it take a route i wanted. If i had acrylic models like yours when i was 5, I'd probably be studying civil engineering rather than history right now lol.

[@radagastwiz]

Note that flood diversion can be done in two dimensions as well - see the Red River Floodway that diverts stormwater around the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It's essentially a large ditch that loops around the city to the east; if the river (flowing into the city from the south) overflows, the floodway takes the excess and returns it to the riverbed well north of the city where it can safely drain to Lake Winnipeg.

[@joshua-kramer]

I had no idea flood tunnels existed. I knew about storm drains and tunnels, but even living in Kansas City, Missouri - which is notorious for flooding - I had never learned about flood tunnels! Thanks so much! I've learned so much from your channel, and now that I understand their functionalities, I really appreciate the infrastructure in my city so much more.

[@AnonyMous-jf4lc]

Big tunnels are a simple but very expensive solution to a rare problem. There are smarter ways to accomplish this. KCWater is a pioneer in this. Lookup KC smart sewer.

[@Tiger351]

This is really interesting to see, many years ago I accompanied a group of high school students learning about local flood mitigation projects around Maitland NSW Australia (some which were completed and some which were planned or still under construction). Maitland still floods somewhat during extreme rain events but nowhere near as much as the infamous flood event of 1955 which was the catalyst for nearly 70 years of flood mitigation projects since then.

[@tehlaser]

Ok, that mica powder was an inspired addition to your garage model. Really helps make it visible what’s going away from the surface.

[@xavierhulbert5849]

The Deep Tunnel project was recently completed in Milwaukee (in 2016?). I haven’t been in the tunnel but I have spoken to some of the engineers who have, and the photos they show are insane. Part of it is a 21’ diameter tunnel, 2 miles long, and 300’ underground. The entire system is more than just this section and can hold 521 million gallons of water in total. I just wanted to give a scale as to how big some of these diversion tunnels can get. They’re impressive structures.

[@kennethjosephson134]

I have been living in Las Vegas since 1985, a metropolitan area with its own amazing network of flood control tunnels and basins, but I am a Milwaukee native. I remember when the Deep Tunnel Project was begun. I grew up on the Northwest Side, where numerous creeks were placed in tunnels during the Twentieth Century and some were interconnected with both storm drains and basement drains. Urban sprawl north and west of my old neighborhood led to increased runoff, adding to the flow of Lincoln Creek , the Menomonee River and their various tributaries, both above ground and in tunnels. As you know, a lot of re-engineering was necessary to control flooding. I heard Red Star Yeast near 27th and I-94 was a casualty of the Deep Tunnel Project. Apparently their private well was contaminated by the tunnel project and their having to use city water made their business unprofitable.

[@danielhale1]

I used to laugh at civil engineering projects that always just seemed like wastes of money for city vanity projects or overbuilt solutions. Thanks to this channel, now I get to marvel at the incredible engineering that goes into elegantly solving serious problems!

[@tarasaurus98]

Glad to see you mention the Chicago Deep Tunnel project! One of the biggest and craziest water management projects ever undertaken

[@NahrAlma]

I just love these cool well thought out solutions to problems. I find it even more fascinating that people live on top of those structures every day without even knowing about them. Stuff like this gives me back a little bit of hope in humanity every time. I mean, not nearly enough to look hopeful into the future of course, but still.

[@seanjones21]

I live near the Chicago tunnel project reservoir and it's a huge source of pride for many Chicagolanders. We can't wait to see the completed project in another decade or so. My grandparents and parents generation started it, and now we'll put the final touches on it. It's like Chicago's very own heritage project for everyone to marvel at. And well worth the cost. It's already keeping basements and sewers from backing up during extreme rain events. Come visit and maybe they'll give you a tour if it's dry enough!

[@Galnar]

well this is strangely timely

[@StarMaster470]

Yep

[@bag2963]

How?

[@robertjarman3703]

@@bag2963 It seems like the Russian military blew up a dam in Ukraine.

[@bag2963]

Soooo interesting, I want to implement these types of flood tunnels into my cities so many cities don't have that.

[@Pe4ivo]

​@@bag2963 Muscovites destroyed Nova Kakhovka dam this morning. There is a flood now. Timely.

[@kruelangel]

Have a look at Malaysia's SMART tunnel. It's an excellent example of a multi-use flood tunnel. Really awesome!

[@g00rb4u]

I was just looking for this - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Tunnel

[@paanjang16]

Really should mentioned about the SMART tunnel. Can use the tunnel as a roadway for light vehicles during dry times and as a flood tunnel during a downpour.

[@brentsnocomgaming7813]

I lived in Austin during the memorial day flood in 2015, thankfully not downtown. It was insane how much that city flooded, and I was shocked as I had assumed it was too hilly and too close to the Colorado river to possibly flood like that. Good to know they build a tunnel so it (hopefully) doesn't happen again, along with them dredging the hell out of Shoal creek which is now like 15 feet below street level, and the canyon they built is as wide as it could possibly be (up to 100 feet wide in the lower areas). They also built a nice hike and bike trail along the creek in the artificial canyon, and planted as much stuff as possible. It was a fantastic place to walk the dog when I lived in downtown Austin.

[@Life_of_Matthew]

I appreciate you making a stormwater-related video. So many people think that stormwater goes into stormwater drains and then simply vanishes, but it is actually dealt with, with water infrastructure.

[@johnmaurer3097]

Another fascinating video about something I've always wondered about. Thank you for putting this together and explaining

[@EthanNeal]

This kind of tunnel system would've been very helpful for my town a couple weeks ago. Idaho Falls, Idaho got hit with a pretty nasty thunderstorm that dropped 2 inches of rain on downtown in 30 minutes, and most of the western half of town east of the Snake River flooded pretty badly.

[@giangtran-to6tb]

ok

[@sammyday3341]

Your work keeps this older Texas civil engineer interested and informed! Thank you!

[@MarcABrown-tt1fp]

I think the most underrated thing about this channel is the timeless background music. Brings back memories.

[@chris_is_here_oh_no]

Excellent video, perfect example of the flood tunnel process. Very informative!

[@lsauce45]

Kubuntu!

[@makarevych]

Watching this as my house in Ukirane is being flooded. Nice timing

[@deltaray3]

Sorry to hear about that, actually one of the first things I thought about when I heard that news was "Maybe Grady will include this in a video" and here we are.

[@riotintheair]

Fun seeing a civil engineering project from my home town highlighted. I saw dozens of shows in Waterloo park as a teenager and young person in Austin and didn't ever really know about this project. Even knowing some thing about the Edwards Aquifer and how the fresh water system in and around Austin works I didn't know about the flood tunnels. Mostly it was things I learned as a volunteer water quality monitor for the Colorado river - a whole team of volunteers monitor it throughout the watershed doing tests weekly or every other week (monitoring for disolved O2, nitrates, phosphates, and fecal coliform, in addition to pH and how much suspended sediments were in the river).

[@Sekir80]

What a fascinating timing as the Nova Kakhovka dam just recently let flow.

[@mikek9297]

Didn't do it on it's own...

[@botje420]

Hi Grady. Putting a piece of wet papertowel or a wet cleaningcloth will keep your cuttingboard from slipping, making the overall cutting much safer and easier. 😊

[@Andy-rj7ij]

Fantastic video! I would love a more detailed video of the concept of sponge cities.

[@phytonso9877]

As a minor note, Chicago's Tunnel and Reservoir Plan has been "done" for a while, but since the quarries they plan to use as the Reservoirs have remained active longer than was expected the final completion date has fluctuated between 2020 and 2040, depending on the economy and how much money the owners of the quarries are making.

[@Kre8-1duH]

Grady you are magical brother, I love watching your videos and I've never given much of a fleeting thought to civil engineering projects and structures beyond list style comparisons/records/failures... But you've made it as interesting to me as any other science and I look forward to nourishing my brain with every upload. I'll rewatch your videos routinely and always wish there were a month's worth of non stop streaming. 😊

[@bigtxbullion]

Houston needs the bayou tunnels more than anything! Great video! Never knew about the system in Austin. This is such a good explanation and visual representation 👌🙏

[@covishen]

Excellent content. I'm curious if you could do some episodes on NYC and their flood protection measures since Sandy. What they are doing about the city sinking under the weight of all the skyscrapers?

[@INCOUNTER335]

Grady, thanks you for your amazing work. Today in 2 am local time Russian forces exploded The New Kakhovka dam in sothern Ukraine. It would be very interesting to see you cover of this topic from engineer point of view.

[@incy55]

So, I thought i would mention that I do like the content very much. Your knowledge and delivery are great. Then there are you models. I understood the whole tunnel thing even though i never knew the existed before. then you whip out a model. Your models are awesome. Thanks for sharing your love for what you do.

[@Nareimooncatt]

Thanks for mentioning the TARP project in Chicago. I drive over the Thornton reservoir sometimes on I-294 and always wondered what it was. From the interstate, it looks like you are just straddling a regular rock quarry, and I thought that's all it was. Being in a semi, I get a little higher vantage point, and it's always a bit of a trip (no pun intended) crossing it. I'll have to read up more on it now that I know what it is, especially since the product I haul is a chemical used in wastewater treatment (though not for those specific facilities).

[@huftheswagindragn]

If there's ever a follow-up, take a look at Frederick, MD's flood management system; it's an interesting historical read.

[@davidandrewcope]

See also, Cumberland, MD just up the road from there.

[@tjthrash0143]

I live in Texas and have never heard about these structures before Grady talked about them. Very cool.

[@MattH-wg7ou]

Another great video, Grady! As always, it's never as simple as it seems on the surface. I love that about pretty much every field. That there is ALWAYS more to learn, however deeply you wish to dive...the pool is certainly deep enough!

[@annamyob4624]

Thank you for reminding us that there are engineers throughout the world working hard to keep us safe and make sure infrastructure benefits all. Things I've learned on your channel have helped me understand the Nova Kakhovka dam situation. Thank you for being a reassuring balance to that sad, bad news. Humans do have capacity for cruelty and destruction, but also for rebuilding, for innovation, creation, beauty and nurture. May the latter ever triumph!

[@DderwenWyllt]

I live in a really rural area and we suffer a lot of floods, the town is built around a river but not on the flood plain, the issue is as all these big brand stores have moved into the town KFC etc. they decided to build their stores on the only unused land in the town, the floodplains. This has caused havoc since they keep demanding the local government protect them from the floods, to put it into context, these floods have happened every year for the last 2,000 years since my town was founded. There have been big floods before now that have caused damage, but these were rare events, but the floods are reaching the town now since the floodplains are being paved over for car parks, we do have a dam upstream, but unfortunately it isn't owned by our country and its main purpose is to collect and pipe water to a city in England, so it's always at maximum capacity and has to dump that water down stream when it overfills. It really annoys me that people don't plan ahead when it comes to flooding, we already know how to prevent excessive damage cause by them, but then we go ahead and pave over flood plains and build supermarkets on them, it's like 2,000 years of people being sensible enough to not build their homes on the floodplains gets thrown out the window the moment KFC and McDonald's turns up with bags of cash and fast food menu's.

[@HansLasser]

Sadly everywhere in the world, councils give building permits where nothing should be built. But it is usually electorally useful. Looks at what we created!

[@einpaarideen]

I appreciate your effort you put into all these models in your garage. I like that they put a little waterfall on that station

[@thirdworldTrini]

Grady teaches us so much on this channel, I love when I see a new video up ...

[@Pe4ivo]

Nice timing bro... And a nice video of course!

[@pdpotman420]

I have lived in Austin my whole life and never knew about this. I like the little model of 111 Congress, its my favorite building in the skyline.

[@gus473]

Yep, but where's Willie? Can it be Austin without Willie? 🤠✌️😎

[@Mrcaffinebean]

Your models are always so well done! Thanks for informing us about yet another interesting piece of engineering!

[@beartastic-ftw]

Every time you put out a new video with models, I wonder which one of us had more fun...

[@chriswoodend2036]

Timing is everything. I get the feeling this is going to get A LOT of traffic.

[@mikek9297]

Yeah.. the views will be flooding in so to speak

[@TheTechnician27]

Interesting timing given what Russia did to the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant this morning.

[@mountainsmusicbeer5532]

Great video. As always. The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Tokyo is amazing. Glad you added it to the video.

[@fredflintstone8048]

I worked at a facility that had a hazardous waste treatment plant that was essentially a big distillery. There are several one million gallon tanks in the tank farm and they rest in a very large steel containment basin.. During monsoons the large catch basin will collect a lot of rain water which tends to be collected back into the tanks to be processed which is expensive, so they do a lot of testing to make sure the water that's caught from the rains is safe, and then pumps it out onto the desert floor.

[@AFNacapella]

I really really hope well implemented flood management, and surface- and groundwater stuff will get more focus in Cities Skylines 2.

[@Debbiebabe69]

You will be praying for a biblical flood to hit your house and put out the fire caused by the game, as it will be so graphically demanding it will make your GPU burn so fiercely and brightly a normal extinguisher will not be powerful enough to put it out...

[@AFNacapella]

@@Debbiebabe69 jokes on you, it's my central heating. and oven and glass forge

[@first_last01]

Hey Grady in my opinion the mic mix could benefit from being run through a De-Esser or a narrow EQ cut around 9-10khz. The S's and C's are quite sharp

[@jkbecker]

Hi I'm Eric and this is Practical Sound Engineering 😅

[@Bare_Essence]

Events like flooding and structures like this seem so simple and are often taken for granted. Then I watch a video like this. Thanks for sharing. Live, learn, improve, do.

[@tradingliveG]

I just can't stop watching your videos once I found, you are an absolute gem, providing such information for free.

[@Britishfurryrectifiersucker]

The largest system like this I designed was about 10 metres wide, 3m tall and 1.5km in length utilising rcc, this must’ve been a massive feat.

[@loganleroy8622]

Okay so that's 33ft x 10ft and a little less than a mile long. Very cool.

[@BrotherSkodidi]

What effect would permeable pavement have on flood waters, Grady? I know that Singapore's been looking into them because of how ultra-urban it is.

[@biohazardlnfS]

Would increase drainage depending on the grade. If water collects naturally under the cement. It will cause flooding by seepage, and pooling in the cement😊

[@bocahdongo7769]

He already explained it. In short it just act like water tank and simple drainage. And ofc it only goes as good as water tank and simple drainage can be.

[@user-vi5zn3mi9u]

Thank you for mentioning the metric units too. It really helps . Thank you for mentioning the metric units too. It really helps .

[@rothn2]

I've moved now but I remember sitting there one day with a book! I climbed somewhere that I probably wasn't supposed to be and started looking at the stuff they had built. I spent quite some time trying to figure out what that might be doing because it didn't seem like it was _only_ decorative. I had wandered over from a nearby park. Good memories :). Though I ultimately left Austin for what I feel are good reasons.

[@KyleDB150]

I hope Kherson has some...

[@JonVanOast]

educational and approachable, as always. thank you! i would love to see a mini follow-up that highlighted flood management with arroyos and other ground-level techniques.

[@jimmymurray164]

The addition of glitter to you scale model was a cool idea! Makes its much easier to understand the flow!

[@PavloPravdiukov]

Man. The timings of your videos... There's a huge flood in Ukraine's south part after russia blew up a dam. I remember you made a video about blackouts right after we had one in Kyiv. It was quite interesting to learn what our power grid was lacking.

[@phizc]

Nice timing. I was going to look for an old video of yours to request an analysis of the Nova Kakhovka dam breach. I don't know about anyone more qualified to do that. Now I've said that, I'll watch this video 😊

[@matusfekete6503]

Thanks for another informative video. Already looking forward to see your take on special draining operation in Nova Kakhovka..

[@salt-emoji]

I wish more people appreciate how much thought, time, effort, blood, swear, tears, engineering, and adaptations lie mere meters under our feet at any given moment.

[@Lessinath]

I look forward to an eventual video on the dam breach in Ukraine because I think it'd be a good way to make a video about how sometimes it's human's fault that our infrastructure fails in a very direct way, although I don't know if it would be *possible* to do both honestly and in your neutral style.

[@Dustmadeout]

No need to be neutral when someone talks about crimes.

[@Lessinath]

@@Dustmadeout I, personally, 100% agree with you.

[@marichka-mulligan]

You scare me. First your electrical grid series during the mass Ukrainian blackouts after the russian infrastructure shelling, and now a flood video after the destruction of dam in Nova Kakhovka.

[@dionh70]

I feel a need to say that these videos require weeks of preparation and production before they are uploaded to the Internet. Any correlation between this channel's videos and real world events is all after the event occurs.

[@marichka-mulligan]

@@dionh70 I understand this, and my comment wasn't meant to be an accusation of any kind, but just a note on the unfortunate coincidences.

[@MBMCincy63]

I'm so glad that I have an option to learn cool things about infrastructure and such things! Thanks Grady.😊 Also I bought your book but it isn't as easy for me to read it as I had hoped, But I like it and am continuing to read it!

[@frostchain2362]

Love the mica powder for visualizing flow patterns!

[@robertjarman3703]

This was almost as poorly timed as the UN Twitter feed on the Russian Language.

[@DomyTheMad420]

that park shown at the very opening is BEAUTIFUL sincerely; a citizen of western Europe used to quality parks

[@powwow151]

I've been waiting for this one, I was so intrigued by that tunnel at Waterloo Park and how it works.

[@JasontheXII]

Awesome new video. You do a great job making these very important concepts easy to digest.

[@artboymoy]

I drive past that Chicago reservoir every now and then and thought it some kinda quarry until I actually looked into it. It's an incredible engineering project.

[@skenzyme81]

Nice. Dallas is currently getting it's first major flood tunnel as well. The Mill Creek Drainage Relief Tunnel project started in 2018 and should be finished in 2025. It's huge. The tunnel will be 5 miles in length and be 30 to 35 feet diameter, running 100 to 150 feet underground. The intake is on the north side of downtown Dallas and the outfall is to the southeast at White Rock Creek.

[@notsocreative]

The one in Tokyo is amazing. It also has many gates to prevent water coming in from the sea with pumps spitting out the flood waters. And gigantic structures where even the holes for the water to get down to the tunnel are designed to accompany the fall (at some point it's so high that the weight of the water would damage the bottom of the structure so they have this spiral/screw design to accompany the water down).

[@punditgi]

Grady makes the best models! Nice work! And thanks for the video! 😊

[@tjsingh5163]

Another great one Grady thanks sir!

[@Nobe_Oddy]

I was SOOO HAPPY that you showed the Tokyo flood tunnel... I have been hearing about for a LONGTIME!!!! But this is the FIRST TIME I have seen it in a video about its INTENDED intended use-case lol :)

[@1257mp]

BABY!! New Practical Enginering dropped!

[@bASICMiner]

I am thankful you choose to put the ad at the end... the video was good- I watched your ad... :) thanks for the time you put into making quality content.

[@BWilliamG]

San Antonio actually has a few of these systems in place across the city. There is the River Walk system that protects downtown and a new system that was built in the last few years on the west side between Lackland and Kelly Field down Military Dr. When I lived in downtown SA on the River Walk after several months of walking it every night with my dogs I heard about the history of its beginning and the flood tunnel that was added in the 80’s. Was mind blown to think about all of the systems that are in place that are multipurpose for everyday use, specifically the lock system along the River Walk, which I thought was just for the river barges at the time but in fact was part of the entire flood mitigation system for downtown.

[@aespa690]

I live in the Tokyo region and immediately thought about writing a comment about the Tokyo tunnel project while watching this, then you even mentioned it! You can tour there and see it its huge in person as they need to protect the largest metro area in the world as typhoons and heavy rain is not uncommon

[@IreneWY]

I visited the flood tunnels of Tokyo that you showed in the video. Quite an impressive structure

[@TheNapalmFTW]

Grady: thank you. Not only do I learn so much from you, but I love infrastructure especially water infrastructure.

[@mattedge8359]

I gigantic supersewer tunnel is being built under London at the moment called Tideway. It’s to help handle storm water and prevent the sewers overflowing into the river Thames.