New River (Mexico – United States)
Encyclopedia
The New River flows north from near Cerro Prieto
, through the city of Mexicali
, Baja California
, Mexico
, into the United States
through the city of Calexico, California
towards the Salton Sea
. The river channel has existed since pre-historic times; however, the river as known today was formed from a levee
failure that resulted in massive flooding that re-created the Salton Sea. Today, the river flow is not natural, mostly consisting of agricultural runoff, municipal discharge and industrial dumping. The river has been referred to as the most severely polluted river of its size within the United States. Several projects have begun to reduce and mitigate the levels of pollution in the river, including upgrading sewage treatment
infrastructure and enclosing the river channel.
. Today this lake feeds the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station
. The river flows north 15 miles (25 km) through Baja California and another 66 miles (100 km) through California into the Salton Sea, the largest lake
in California. Flow at the border is approximately 200 ft³/s (6 m³/s
), and about three times this flow at the Salton Sea because of collected agricultural discharges.
The New River’s flow is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation
in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage
from Mexicali
(29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California
, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals
(including selenium
, uranium
, arsenic
and mercury
), and pesticides (including DDT
) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogen
s that cause tuberculosis
, encephalitis
, polio
, cholera
, hepatitis
and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold. Fecal coliform bacteria
are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter
at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies.
The combined effects of increasing, highly polluted inflow from the New River and agricultural runoff have resulted in elevated bacterial levels and large algal blooms in the Salton Sea. With the lack of an outlet, salinity has increased by approximately 1% per year. Due to high selenium levels, the public was strictly advised to limit fish consumption from the Salton Sea in 1986, after which any amount was likely a health risk. Increasing water temperature, salinity and bacterial levels led to massive fish die-offs (1992, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008), and created the ideal breeding grounds for Botulismavian botulism, cholera
and Newcastle disease
, which also led to massive avian epizootics from 1992-2008. Currently, the Salton Sea has a salinity of 4.4% (4.4 parts per 100), making it saltier than ocean water (3.5% for Pacific), and many species of fish are no longer able to reproduce or survive in the Salton Sea. It is now believed the tilapia
may be the only fish species able to persist there for a limited time. Without restoration actions, the sea will likely increase in toxicity, and remain an ecological trap for avian species.
, and Salton Sea
of today started in the autumn of 1904 when heavy rainfall and snow-melt caused the Colorado River
to swell, overrunning a set of headgates for the Alamo Canal
. The resulting flood poured down the canal and breached an Imperial Valley
dike. The sudden influx of water and the lack of drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea; the rivers had re-created a great inland sea in the Salton Sink
, an area which had frequently been inundated before. Nearly two years passed before workers could control the Colorado River’s flow and stop the flooding, but the river was effectively dammed in the early part of 1907 and returned to its normal course. The flood significantly enlarged the channels of the New and Alamo Rivers. Some water continued to flow, even after the dike was repaired, as the larger channels collected and carried agricultural runoff to the Salton Sea.
Although thorough documentation of the pollution prior to 1960 is not available, records show the New River identified as a significant water pollution
problem since the late 1940s. It had such extremely high concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria
that it had a stench at its entry to the U.S. Under provisions of the 1944 Water Treaty with Mexico, the governments of the United States and Mexico agreed to give preferential attention to the solution of all border sanitation problems. The International Boundary and Water Commission
(IBWC) was first authorized by the two governments to study pollution of the New River from Mexico.
Studies in 1947 and 1948 to correct the New River problem resulted in the recommendation by IBWC that a joint plant be constructed in the United States to treat the sewage of the cities of Calexico and Mexicali.
As Mexicali had a population explosion in the 1970s, and increased pollution levels because of an inadequate sewer
infrastructure, the nations made various attempts in the 1980s and 1990s to address pollution of this river, as documented by the International Boundary and Water Commission of the U.S. Department of State.
Since the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) in the 1990s, industrial manufacturing also became an increasingly significant contributor to pollution. Mexico's relatively lax environmental regulations
on manufacturing plants or maquiladora
s has allowed the plants to use the New River as an industrial waste
drainage
system over the years. Mexicali
has become a bustling border city
with over one hundred maquiladoras.
In the 1990s, a joint project was implemented to improve Mexicali's wastewater infrastructure
, but although the EPA paid for 55 percent of a $50 million addition to Mexicali's sewage treatment facilities and refurbishing of equipment, the improvements would not treat all the waste discharges to the river. The nations have yet to tackle the residual pollution affecting Mexico and which has also been carried across the border through the Imperial Valley and deposited in the Salton Sea
.
. The New River is so heavily polluted that technicians usually wear two sets of gloves, aprons and other protective clothing when testing the water. Discarded tires, trash, dead animals and other wastes line the channel, foam blows into the streets of one of Calexico’s residential areas and toward its downtown area, mosquitoes and other pests thrive during the summer season; all of these factors only serve to elevate contagion risk.
Scores of illegal immigrants are also exposed as they use the river to enter the U.S. Those who succeed in crossing will rarely receive adequate medical attention or screening; and they will often find jobs in the agricultural or food service industries, carrying New River diseases to their various destinations in California and across the U.S. The pollution problem is expected to worsen if Mexicali’s population of about 1.3 million continues to expand without adequate infrastructure.
In 2006, through another binational project, Mexicali finished building a second water treatment facility to treat the 10 to 20 million USgals (75,708.2 m³) per day of raw and partially treated sewage that was being discharged into the river. In May, 2005, the New River was designated as one of two environmental justice water quality pilot projects for the State of California Environmental Protection Agency
(CalEPA) to try to address the various pollution sources collaboratively between the various stakeholders.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed Senate Bill
387, introduced by Senator
Denise Moreno Ducheny
(D-San Diego), which provided funding for the New River Improvement Project. It involves four main components:
s and nutrient
s, the binational projects fail to address other problems that have significant adverse impacts on New River water quality at the border. More specifically, the projects do not address the indiscriminate dumping of trash into the New River and its tributaries, the nutrients and pathogens from Mexicali's Zaragoza wastewater treatment lagoons, the untreated and partially treated discharges of industrial wastes, agricultural runoff from the Mexicali Valley, and urban and storm runoff from the municipality.
Moreover, Mexico intends to reclaim the effluent from the treatment plant on onsite green belt
s. This will result in a 20 million USgals (75,708.2 m³) per day decrease in flow of the New River at the border. This loss of flow, coupled with the projected 10 million USgals (37,854.1 m³) per day decrease in flow in the river at the border when the InterGen and Sempra Energy
power plants reach capacity in Mexicali, the estimated decrease in flow due to projects pursuant to the terms of the Quantification Settlement Agreement, and the water transfer between the Imperial Irrigation District
and the San Diego County Water Authority will have devastating water quality impacts on the Salton Sea
.
Cerro Prieto
Cerro Prieto is a small rural town located in the county of La Misión in the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Hidalgo....
, through the city of Mexicali
Mexicali
Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California, seat of the Municipality of Mexicali, and 2nd largest city in Baja California. The City of Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 936,826.The city...
, Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, into the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
through the city of Calexico, California
Calexico, California
Calexico is a city in Imperial County, California. The population was 38,572 at the 2010 census, up from 27,109 at the 2000 census. Calexico is about east of San Diego and west of Yuma, Arizona...
towards the Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
. The river channel has existed since pre-historic times; however, the river as known today was formed from a levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
failure that resulted in massive flooding that re-created the Salton Sea. Today, the river flow is not natural, mostly consisting of agricultural runoff, municipal discharge and industrial dumping. The river has been referred to as the most severely polluted river of its size within the United States. Several projects have begun to reduce and mitigate the levels of pollution in the river, including upgrading sewage treatment
Sewage treatment
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
infrastructure and enclosing the river channel.
Flow
The New River channel begins at a volcanic lake, near Cerro PrietoCerro Prieto
Cerro Prieto is a small rural town located in the county of La Misión in the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Hidalgo....
. Today this lake feeds the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station
Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station
The Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station is the largest geothermal power station in the world, with an installed capacity of , with plans for expansion up to by 2012...
. The river flows north 15 miles (25 km) through Baja California and another 66 miles (100 km) through California into the Salton Sea, the largest lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
in California. Flow at the border is approximately 200 ft³/s (6 m³/s
Cubic metres per second
A cubic metre per second is a derived SI unit of flow rate equal to that of a stere or cube with sides of one metre in length exchanged or moving each second...
), and about three times this flow at the Salton Sea because of collected agricultural discharges.
The New River’s flow is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
from Mexicali
Mexicali
Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California, seat of the Municipality of Mexicali, and 2nd largest city in Baja California. The City of Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 936,826.The city...
(29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California
Calexico, California
Calexico is a city in Imperial County, California. The population was 38,572 at the 2010 census, up from 27,109 at the 2000 census. Calexico is about east of San Diego and west of Yuma, Arizona...
, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals
Heavy metals
A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...
(including selenium
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
, uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
, arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
and mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
), and pesticides (including DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
s that cause tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, encephalitis
Encephalitis
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...
, polio
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
, cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of United States Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
(EPA) and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold. Fecal coliform bacteria
Coliform bacteria
Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming bacteria which can ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35-37°C...
are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter
Colony-forming unit
In microbiology, colony-forming unit is a measure of viable bacterial or fungal numbers. Unlike direct microscopic counts where all cells, dead and living, are counted, CFU measures viable cells...
at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies.
The combined effects of increasing, highly polluted inflow from the New River and agricultural runoff have resulted in elevated bacterial levels and large algal blooms in the Salton Sea. With the lack of an outlet, salinity has increased by approximately 1% per year. Due to high selenium levels, the public was strictly advised to limit fish consumption from the Salton Sea in 1986, after which any amount was likely a health risk. Increasing water temperature, salinity and bacterial levels led to massive fish die-offs (1992, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008), and created the ideal breeding grounds for Botulismavian botulism, cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
and Newcastle disease
Newcastle disease
Newcastle disease is a contagious bird disease affecting many domestic and wild avian species. First found in Newcastle, United Kingdom in 1926, then by Burnet in 1943 in Australia in connection with laboratory infection where the virus was isolated from a ocular discharge of a patient to show the...
, which also led to massive avian epizootics from 1992-2008. Currently, the Salton Sea has a salinity of 4.4% (4.4 parts per 100), making it saltier than ocean water (3.5% for Pacific), and many species of fish are no longer able to reproduce or survive in the Salton Sea. It is now believed the tilapia
Tilapia
Tilapia , is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia inhabit a variety of fresh water habitats, including shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. Historically, they have been of major importance in artisan fishing in Africa and the...
may be the only fish species able to persist there for a limited time. Without restoration actions, the sea will likely increase in toxicity, and remain an ecological trap for avian species.
History
The creation of the New River, Alamo RiverAlamo River
The Alamo River is a river flowing west and north from the Mexicali Valley across the Imperial Valley . The river drains into the Salton Sea....
, and Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
of today started in the autumn of 1904 when heavy rainfall and snow-melt caused the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
to swell, overrunning a set of headgates for the Alamo Canal
Alamo Canal
The Alamo Canal was a long waterway that connected the Colorado River to the head of the Alamo River. The canal was constructed to provide irrigation to the Imperial Valley. A small portion of the canal was located in the United States but the majority of the canal was located in Mexico...
. The resulting flood poured down the canal and breached an Imperial Valley
Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley is an agricultural area of Southern California's Imperial County. It is located in southeastern Southern California, centered around the city of El Centro. Locally, the terms "Imperial Valley" and "Imperial County" are used synonymously. The Valley is bordered between the...
dike. The sudden influx of water and the lack of drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea; the rivers had re-created a great inland sea in the Salton Sink
Salton Sink
The Salton Sink is a geographic sink in the Coachella and Imperial valleys of southeastern California. It is in the Colorado Desert subregion of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion...
, an area which had frequently been inundated before. Nearly two years passed before workers could control the Colorado River’s flow and stop the flooding, but the river was effectively dammed in the early part of 1907 and returned to its normal course. The flood significantly enlarged the channels of the New and Alamo Rivers. Some water continued to flow, even after the dike was repaired, as the larger channels collected and carried agricultural runoff to the Salton Sea.
Water pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
problem since the late 1940s. It had such extremely high concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria
Coliform bacteria
Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming bacteria which can ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35-37°C...
that it had a stench at its entry to the U.S. Under provisions of the 1944 Water Treaty with Mexico, the governments of the United States and Mexico agreed to give preferential attention to the solution of all border sanitation problems. The International Boundary and Water Commission
International Boundary and Water Commission
The International Boundary and Water Commission is an international body created in 1889 by the United States and Mexico to administer the many boundary and water-rights treaties and agreements between the two nations....
(IBWC) was first authorized by the two governments to study pollution of the New River from Mexico.
Studies in 1947 and 1948 to correct the New River problem resulted in the recommendation by IBWC that a joint plant be constructed in the United States to treat the sewage of the cities of Calexico and Mexicali.
As Mexicali had a population explosion in the 1970s, and increased pollution levels because of an inadequate sewer
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
infrastructure, the nations made various attempts in the 1980s and 1990s to address pollution of this river, as documented by the International Boundary and Water Commission of the U.S. Department of State.
Since the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) in the 1990s, industrial manufacturing also became an increasingly significant contributor to pollution. Mexico's relatively lax environmental regulations
Environmental law
Environmental law is a complex and interlocking body of treaties, conventions, statutes, regulations, and common law that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity...
on manufacturing plants or maquiladora
Maquiladora
A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...
s has allowed the plants to use the New River as an industrial waste
Industrial waste
Industrial waste is a type of waste produced by industrial activity, such as that of factories, mills and mines. It has existed since the outset of the industrial revolution....
drainage
Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
system over the years. Mexicali
Mexicali
Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California, seat of the Municipality of Mexicali, and 2nd largest city in Baja California. The City of Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 936,826.The city...
has become a bustling border city
United States–Mexico border
The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...
with over one hundred maquiladoras.
In the 1990s, a joint project was implemented to improve Mexicali's wastewater infrastructure
Water industry
The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. The water industry includes manufacturers and suppliers of bottled water...
, but although the EPA paid for 55 percent of a $50 million addition to Mexicali's sewage treatment facilities and refurbishing of equipment, the improvements would not treat all the waste discharges to the river. The nations have yet to tackle the residual pollution affecting Mexico and which has also been carried across the border through the Imperial Valley and deposited in the Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
.
Environmental justice
The stench of the New River near the boundary is often overpowering, particularly at night and during the summer when temperatures can reach 120°FFahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees...
. The New River is so heavily polluted that technicians usually wear two sets of gloves, aprons and other protective clothing when testing the water. Discarded tires, trash, dead animals and other wastes line the channel, foam blows into the streets of one of Calexico’s residential areas and toward its downtown area, mosquitoes and other pests thrive during the summer season; all of these factors only serve to elevate contagion risk.
Scores of illegal immigrants are also exposed as they use the river to enter the U.S. Those who succeed in crossing will rarely receive adequate medical attention or screening; and they will often find jobs in the agricultural or food service industries, carrying New River diseases to their various destinations in California and across the U.S. The pollution problem is expected to worsen if Mexicali’s population of about 1.3 million continues to expand without adequate infrastructure.
In 2006, through another binational project, Mexicali finished building a second water treatment facility to treat the 10 to 20 million USgals (75,708.2 m³) per day of raw and partially treated sewage that was being discharged into the river. In May, 2005, the New River was designated as one of two environmental justice water quality pilot projects for the State of California Environmental Protection Agency
California Environmental Protection Agency
The California Environmental Protection Agency is a state cabinet-level agency within the government of California. Cal/EPA is composed of six departments, boards and offices responsible for environmental research, regulating and administering the state's environmental protection programs, and...
(CalEPA) to try to address the various pollution sources collaboratively between the various stakeholders.
Legislative Changes: SB 387
On July 25, 2005, Governor of CaliforniaGovernor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
signed Senate Bill
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
387, introduced by Senator
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
Denise Moreno Ducheny
Denise Moreno Ducheny
Denise Moreno Ducheny is a California State Senator who represents Senate District 40, which includes southern San Diego County, part of Riverside County, and all of Imperial County. Ducheny is a Democrat. She lives with her husband, Al, in San Diego, California.-Background:Ducheny was born in...
(D-San Diego), which provided funding for the New River Improvement Project. It involves four main components:
- A trash screen;
- Construction of an enclosed box culvert alongside the current river channel through the developed areas of Calexico so that normal flow can be re-routed into the culvert, thereby eliminating resident exposure and allowing for treatment of contaminated flows;
- Construction of wetlands to address overall pollution, including pollution from sources in the United States; and
- Construction of green belts and recreational facilities in a restored New River floodplain.
Outlook
According to the Colorado River Regional Water Quality Control Board, once the new waste water treatment facility is fully operational, it will be handling the 10 to 20 US gal (37,854.1 to 0.07570824 m3) per day of raw sewage currently being discharged into the New River. While this should result in measurable improved water quality of the New River at the border, particularly as it relates to pathogenPathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
s and nutrient
Nutrient
A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy...
s, the binational projects fail to address other problems that have significant adverse impacts on New River water quality at the border. More specifically, the projects do not address the indiscriminate dumping of trash into the New River and its tributaries, the nutrients and pathogens from Mexicali's Zaragoza wastewater treatment lagoons, the untreated and partially treated discharges of industrial wastes, agricultural runoff from the Mexicali Valley, and urban and storm runoff from the municipality.
Moreover, Mexico intends to reclaim the effluent from the treatment plant on onsite green belt
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
s. This will result in a 20 million USgals (75,708.2 m³) per day decrease in flow of the New River at the border. This loss of flow, coupled with the projected 10 million USgals (37,854.1 m³) per day decrease in flow in the river at the border when the InterGen and Sempra Energy
Sempra Energy
Sempra Energy is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego, California. It divides its interests into two broad categories: Sempra Utilities, including Pacific Enterprises/Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric; and Sempra Global, a holding company for...
power plants reach capacity in Mexicali, the estimated decrease in flow due to projects pursuant to the terms of the Quantification Settlement Agreement, and the water transfer between the Imperial Irrigation District
Imperial Irrigation District
The Imperial Irrigation District was formed in 1911 under the California Irrigation District Act to acquire the properties of the bankrupt California Development Company and its Mexican subsidiary. The IID had acquired 13 mutual water companies, which had developed and operated distribution canals...
and the San Diego County Water Authority will have devastating water quality impacts on the Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
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