Learn about Houston area bayous and why so many of our streams flow East to West

Note: This will be an IN-PERSON event! Thursday, June 11, 2026
Location: United Way of Greater Houston; 50 Waugh Drive (parking garage is off of Feagan St).
Doors open at 7:00 pm for social time, meet & greet. Program presentation begins at 7:30 pm.
Everyone is welcome.

Free parking in the garage. Enter the garage from Feagan St.
Please do not park in any of the reserved spots in the garage and do not park in the lot across the street. There are four levels in the UW parking garage. Enter from the first level through the glass doors to the main entrance and reception area.
There is Metro bus access via the #40 bus o Waugh Dr/ South Heights Blvd. or the #85 bus on Washington Ave.

Why Do So Many Houston Area Streams Run from West to East?

Having paddled canoes and kayaks on Houston’s waterways for some time, Tom Douglas had noticed that many of them flow from west to east. Many of the world’s rivers must make detours on their way to the sea, but why have so many of ours veered off to the east at places where their southward path toward the Gulf appears to have been blocked? After considerable reading and consulting with a couple of bona fide fluvial geomorphologists, he learned the answer.

Along with water, rivers also carry sediment. How this sediment is moved around and eventually deposited can have many effects, both in the short term and the long term. In our region, these processes have posted many “left turn only” signs for streams as they work their way to the south. We will also see how a story that began several million years ago continues to influence our daily lives.