Army Corps of Engineers: Funding for Sparks Arroyo would not be justified

The County will have to go back to the drawing board when it comes to finding a solution to the problem of flooding in the Sparks Colonia.

Areas like Sparks and Socorro often have to deal with flooding when it rains. “It’s pretty bad,” a Sparks resident told ABC-7 Monday.

The county’s hope of getting federal funding to fix the problem has hit a major roadblock that experts say won’t be easy overcome.

“We come up with a negative cost-benefit ratio and it has been my experience that even a project with a – barely over a 1 cost-benefit ratio – does not get funding for construction,” said Lynette Giesen, a project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps of engineers looked at the feasibility and cost of mitigating the flooding problems in the far south-east and Lower Valley parts of the county. It found the problem is widespread and could cost more than $100-million for a partial fix.

Even if it was to be approved, the project would only contain 75 percent of the problem. When you factor in the low level of development in the area, it makes it difficult to justify federal funding.

“The good thing about the information we have so far is, it’s more information than we had to start with. The core issue is money,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar.

The county judge told ABC-7 Monday commissioners court may consider pushing for the ability to create a stormwater fee at the state level in the next legislative session to try and take care of it themselves.