By Kevin Hendricks — Corrales farmers and homeowners who depend on Rio Grande levees for flood protection and irrigation can rest a little easier. Federal crews just finished convincing a restless stretch of river to stay in its lane.
The Bureau of Reclamation completed its Corrales River Mile 199 Project in September, stabilizing about two miles of riverbank that had migrated toward levees and canals on both sides of the river, according to an agency release. Crews worked in three phases starting in November 2025, temporarily rerouting the river into constructed side channels to keep water flowing downstream.
Decades of upstream flood and sediment dams starved the river of sediment and peak flows, carving a narrower, deeper channel that shifts sideways faster, the agency said. The project stabilizes the banks and aims to gradually reconnect the river to its old floodplain.
“Rivers are dynamic systems and provide vital services to communities and the environment,” said Robert Padilla, a supervisory civil engineer with Reclamation’s Albuquerque Area Office.
Reclamation plans to team up with a local nonprofit to replant native vegetation in disturbed areas near Corrales and the Pueblo of Sandia, then monitor how the project performs. The Village of Corrales hosted two public meetings on the project during planning.
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