GRANTS, N.M. — The City of Grants is seeking nearly $500,000 to design improvements intended to reduce future flooding around the Grants Arroyo and Rio San Jose.
The Grants City Council approved Resolution No. 26-1567 during its Aug. 26 meeting, authorizing the city to submit a funding application to the New Mexico Water Trust Board.
City Manager Andrew Valencia said Aug. 27 that the city is requesting approximately $494,000 for engineering and design work associated with the Grants Arroyo and Rio San Jose Channel Improvements Project.
The funding would not immediately pay for construction. Instead, it would allow engineers to determine what improvements are needed, how those improvements should be designed and what the eventual construction work could cost.
“We’ve identified that we need to do more engineering work on what exactly we need to do to those arroyos to make them feasible for flooding,” Valencia said.
The proposed work builds upon a drainage master plan previously completed by the city. Valencia said that plan identified low-lying areas where stormwater retention or overflow ponds could help control runoff.
Under the concept being considered, stormwater would first flow into retention ponds. As the ponds fill, excess water could then be released into the Grants Arroyo or Rio San Jose in a more controlled manner.
Valencia compared the proposed system to the existing retention pond near George Hanosh Boulevard.
“That keeps the flooding from happening in those low-lying areas,” Valencia said.
The Grants Arroyo and Rio San Jose currently meet near the city limits. The engineering work would examine how the waterways, retention ponds and surrounding drainage infrastructure could function together.
Valencia said the application is part of the city’s effort to prepare projects before a serious flooding problem develops, rather than waiting until infrastructure fails or homes and businesses are threatened.
“There’s not anything that we’ve identified where there’s been particularly a lot of flooding,” Valencia said. “What we do is we try and get ahead of the curve.”
Having a drainage master plan has allowed the city to pursue state or federal funding as grant opportunities become available, he said. Projects that have already been identified and studied are generally better positioned to move forward when money is offered.
“As funding comes up and you apply for it, that way you know where you’re at,” Valencia said.
The current Water Trust Board application does not require a local matching contribution, according to Valencia. However, the terms of any future construction funding could be different.
Once the design is completed, the city would have to seek additional money to build the improvements. Valencia said the construction cost is not yet known and would be developed through the engineering process.
As an example, Valencia said that if the improvements were later estimated to cost $1 million, the city could return to the Water Trust Board and request construction funding. A future award could include a loan component, although municipalities may sometimes apply for a waiver of that requirement.
Approval of the resolution does not guarantee that the city will receive the requested $494,000. It authorizes Grants to complete and submit the application for consideration.
Valencia said Water Trust Board funding can provide cities with more time to design and complete major infrastructure projects than some legislative capital appropriations, which may carry shorter spending deadlines.
That longer timeline can be especially important for drainage projects, which require engineering, environmental review, procurement and construction planning before work can begin.
For residents, the council’s Aug. 26 action represents an early step in what could become a larger, multiyear effort. No construction schedule has been established, and the final size and scope of the project will depend on the engineering work and the availability of future funding.
The immediate goal, Valencia said, is to ensure the city has a plan ready before flooding becomes a more serious concern.
“We can prepare for it way, way in advance,” he said.