The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the City of Belen have plans to address the flooding that recently devastated the area.
Belen Mayor Robert Noblin announced a long-term mitigation plan and now has to find the funding. In the meantime, the City has developed a short-term plan to address the flooding.
“Ultimately, we know the long term solution for flooding and bland would be a diversionary channel around the city that can contain and move out all runoff and rainwater from these heavy rains that we’re starting to experience pretty frequently,” Noblin told KOB 4 recently.
The cost for that project would be nearly $100 million, which currently isn’t in the City’s budget; the mayor said. For now, the City has approved a project that will control the amount of water that is let into the Belen Highline Canal. Jason Casuga, CEO and chief engineer of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, noted that the project would allow a way to manage the water flow, though work must be done to make the project feasible.
“These ponds are going to sit up on the mesa and then the Belen Highline Canal sits to the east of these will sit to the east of these and so there has to be engineering done to, once the water starts flowing into these ponds, it needs to be routed in a controlled way,” Casuga told KOB 4.
After months of meetings and proposals, Noblin is happy to see the initial steps toward flood control in Valencia County.
“We’ve been working with the conservancy and coming up with an MOU for several months and this final MOU came in front of the Belen City Council Monday,” Noblin said.
The Belen Highline Canal is meant for irrigation and not flood control, which is why it remains a short-term solution. Noblin is hoping funds for the long-term diversionary channel will be approved in the next state legislative session.