El Paso Water makes flood control improvements ahead of this summer’s monsoon

Springtime is typically our driest time of year and El Paso Water is taking advantage of our drier months to improve the city’s stormwater management system ahead of this summer’s monsoon.

That is why El Paso Water is revamping a collection basin along North Mesa Hills Drive, since years of erosion have caused some problems.

“All that silt had collected in the basin over the years and what happened was it made this basin really not serve it’s full capacity, it wasn’t able to hold the stormwater that it should,” says Christina Montoya communications and marketing manager at El Paso Water.

El Paso Water is putting rip rap at the bottom of the basin to prevent any future erosion. There are three other flood control basins that will be completed this summer including one in the lower valley, one in central El Paso, and another west side basin off Silver Spring Drive.

With all these improvements, it’s important to note that full cooperation from the public is needed for the stormwater system to work properly.

” We’re doing our part by building new facilities, maintaining the existing systems, but it really hurts us when people dump illegally into our stormwater systems, into our ponds, into our channels,” says Montoya.

To report illegal dumping take a picture of video of it and call 3-1-1.