The Annette Hise Jones Urban Pond System in the Rio Rancho Urban Watershed consists of a series of retention ponds and drainage channels that protect the Corrales Main Canal and the city of Corrales from stormwater runoff flowing east and south from the southern urban area of Rio Rancho.
This system works in conjunction with the Johnnie G. Losack Tree Farm just to the south. In recognition of Mrs. Annette Hise Jones’ Spirit of Service, the Urband Pond System was dedicated in her honor on June 19, 2001.
How It Works
Urban Pond #4 is the largest of the four detention ponds that prevent downstream flooding by safely detaining stormwater that might overflow the storm drains in case of a “hundred-year storm event,” the possible result of a storm lasting about three hours, with a peak flow rate of 450 cubic feet per second (cfs) into the system. The storm water flow is reduced from 450 cfs to five cfs. (One cfs equals 488 gallons per minute of water flow, so the rate is slowed from over 3,366 gallons per minute to less than 37.5.)
Large stormwater flows are collected from the streets and enter the ponds through storm drains. The retention capacity of all four ponds is just over 42 acre-feet. The largest, Urban Pond #4, has a storage capacity of about 34 acre-feet. The series of ponds allows for slow, controlled-release outflow with a peak flow rate of 5 cfs lasting about five days. (One acre-foot equals the volume to cover one acre with water one foot deep, or about 325,829 gallons.) The extended detention of runoff in Tree Farm Pond A allows settlement of sediments and reduction of other pollutants. Sediment and pollutants are left behind as the runoff is slowly released from pond to pond and then into the Corrales Main Canal by permit with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.
The facility meets New Mexico Dam Safety Design criteria and is permitted by State Engineer File No. 4595. Dam safety is provided by select fill seepage control, concrete cutoff walls, and a reinforced concrete emergency spillway sized to safely pass the probable maximum flood. Runoff is detained for an extended time in Urban Pond #4, allowing sediment to settle and reducing other pollutants. Floating debris and trash are collected in Urban Pond #4 and #5. An oil/water separator collects any oils in the discharge from Urban Pond #5 into the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District’s Corrales Main Canal. An engineered earthen liner (seepage control blanket) controls percolation through the bottom of the pond and the detention complies with separation requirements from domestic wells.
Bonus Benefits
Recreation & Multiple-Use
The soil cement emergency spillway doubles as an integral component of the boundary bike path.
The site serves as an undeveloped, primitive open-space park.
Education
Located adjacent to Urban Pond #5 along Loma Larga Road in Corrales and mounted on a concrete structure, two 2-foot by 3-foot sign panels describe the system history and operation.
Permanent survey control monuments are installed for public use and to monitor pond performance.
Urban Pond #4 Project Data
Constructed through a joint public/private partnership with Trinity Estates Subdivision, saving SSCAFCA taxpayers an estimated $750,000.
SSCAFCA Contribution: $325,000
Land Development Inc. (Trinity Estates Subdivision) contribution: $375,000, plus land
Construction Date: 1999
Engineer: ASCG Incorporated of New Mexico
Contractor: Joiner Construction Co., Inc.
Southern Sandoval County Flood Control Authority
Chairman: William “Dub” Yarbrough
Directors: John Chaney, Jim Dorn, Bill Joiner and Guy McDowell
Executive Director: David Stoliker