Santec Awarded a $1.6 million Contract for Arroyo Colorado Dredge Project

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A Colorado company will design the dredging of a section of a South Texas waterway that flooded during historic recent rains, the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission says.

Stantec Inc., of Denver, has been awarded a $1.6 million contract to design the dredging of 6.3 miles of the Arroyo Colorado, the IBWC announced.

The two-year contract will focus on an area of the arroyo, or channel, located in Harlingen, Texas, between U.S. Business Highway 77 and Cemetery Road, near the border with Mexico.

The area is what the IBWC calls a “critical component” of the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project, yet it had “reduced capacity” when it was needed most during recent flooding, the head of the IBWC says.

Historic rains hit the Rio Grande Valley region overnight on March 27, and the Arroyo Colorado, which was supposed to help alleviate flooding, itself also flooded.

In Harlingen, 21 inches of rain fell. Special diversion gates operated by IBWC were opened on March 31 to relieve excess water from the region’s main drain.

The Arroyo Colorado was supposed to act as an emergency water evacuation route to reduce water in the region’s Main Floodway and take water to the Laguna Madre, near the Gulf.

But it didn’t remove water quickly because of excessive debris in the watershed as well as overgrown vegetation on the banks, U.S. IBWC Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner said.

Some housing subdivisions and roadways were flooded and at least two deaths were reported in the weather event.