Phase II of the Southwest Valley Flood Damage Reduction Project recently received the Mid-Region Council of Governments Board of Directors’ Public Partnership Award.
The Albuquerque District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority (AMAFCA); Bernalillo County; Albuquerque Public Schools (APS); and Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) worked together to design and build multiple parts of the project.
The project began in 1999 when AMAFCA and Bernalillo County entered into an agreement with the Corps for a feasibility study to establish a federal interest in flooding in the southwest valley of Bernalillo County.
The recently completed Phase II consists of detention ponds, known as Pond 187 and Pond 187A, and underground infrastructure consisting of drainage pipes and connections that remove peak flows that would overwhelm the Isleta Drain and store them in Pond 187 and then slowly return the flood water to the Isleta Drain and eventually move flood waters to the Rio Grande.
Future Bernalillo County and AMAFCA projects in the area will eventually connect to the Southwest Valley Flood Reduction Project and remove more structures from the flood plain.
Col. James Booth, Albuquerque District Commander and project managers Jerry Nieto, USACE; Brad Bingham, AMAFCA; Ray Gomez, MRGCD; Robert Kane, APS; and Brad Catanach, Bernalill County, accept the award, September 9, 2016.