El Paso picked by Army Corps for storm water improvement project

EL PASO, Texas -- The US. Army Corps of Engineers has chosen central El Paso as one out of eight flood control projects in the country, to help improve water drainage conditions in the city.

The Corps "has studied and built some of the most challenging flood control projects in the country," according to a statement issued Wednesday announcing the projects.

The cities picked by the Corps will have up to 65% of the design and construction costs covered, based on the research conducted by the engineers. The Corps utilizes weather data, flood dynamics models, and assessments of the existing drainage system to determine and make suggestions on what needs to be done to improve it.

According to Gilbert Trejo, an El Paso Water spokesperson, the existing gateway water retention ponds have been doing their job - holding up to 50 million gallons of water from earlier this month.

Still, flooding continues to be an issue, not only in the central part of El Paso, but in the east and west portions of the city as well. This particular study will be on the central El Paso watershed.

Now that the agreement for the project is finalized, it will be signed at some point later this week.