In a few months, an area near the grounds of the Mercedes Livestock Show Grounds will be able to hold 27 football fields’ worth of water.

A new detention pond off Mile 1 West and Anacuitas Road will move water off the roads and away from people's homes. The area has flooded multiple times.

Construction of the detention pond began on Monday.

“What we're trying to do is engineer something that's going to carry more water away, and it’s going to do it through structures and conveyances instead of having to have a pump out here,” Mercedes Mayor Pro-Tem Rubén Saldaña said.

The project is being funded by $1 million from the Texas General Land Office.

Once completed, the pond will hold 36 acre feet of water and complement other canal expansion projects in the city.

Construction on the deten

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