Stormwater Utility Buys More Properties to Expand Project

to shell out a little more money to help pay for storm water infrastructure. and even with all the drainage improvements, we still see i-10 wash out with flood water right by the copia and piedras area. this is a shot from just a few years ago. tonight, details on a much bigger project on both side of i-10 now forcing people out of their homes! and it’s costing rate payers 12-million dollars! abc-seven’s complete coverage… … continues with abc-seven’s darren hunt; “they sent us a letter statin they needed to buy us out … ” consuelo gonzalez has lived in this home at cebada and durazno in central el paso for 70 years! a home her late parents helped build themselves. “is it hard to leave? “yes sir, especially becaus like i said my father and my mother built the first rooms with their own hands, that’s what hurts me most.” “we’re very sensitive t people’s private property … its not something you necessarily want to do go out and purchase it.” ala shubert is vice president of operations for el paso water utilities. he said clearing the way for the gateway stormwater ponds project should help protect i-10 from flooding … “one of the signature sights of this storm is the flooding at i-10 at piedras.” like i did during storm 2006 and just about every year since. this is video of it flooding last september. “by doing this it gives us a bi volume that we can collect to take the peak out of the storm and then either percolate it or pump it at some later time after the storm is over.” “the two massive ponding area will be connected by a six foot in diameter pipe at the bottom of this cylinder, which is being dug out underneath the freeway, a permit for which shubert said they got from txdot in record time.” “its all part of the same puzzl to stop the flooding down here at the interstate.” and stop the repetive flooding of homes in the area … although some, like consuelo, had to give up their homes for that to happen. “the last time the water went u that stair right there … i hope it helps with the other people that stay around here.” consuelo told darren she got about double the 68-thousand her home was appraised at. total acquisition costs by e-p-w-u were more than four million dollars. by the way, once the project is complete… the ponds on both sides of the freeway will hold 56 million gallons of water. no major flooding on the freeways yesterday thankfully … and for now, our tex-dot traffic cameras show the rush