Tuesday, June 8, 2008- Monsoon season has officially begun in the borderland and several of the projects stemming from the August floods of 2006 are behind schedule.

Flooding problems were expecially severe in 2006 in some parts of Northeast El Paso.  One project, which promised to fix flooding problems behind the Butterfield Trail apartments was supossed to get underway in December but today it has still not not started.

That is because the project has become more expensive than anticipated.  City engineers say the drainage system in the area needs to be larger in order to accomodate more water.  Original estimates were at 6 million dollars for the project but after more study and design, the price tag ballooned to nearly 20 million dollars.

In order to cut that cost, the city is now looking at another option.  That would include a scaled down version of the drainage project that would also include the addition of retention ponds on the east side of U.S. 54, on Castner Range.