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12/19/2006: "Don't Take Away Our Polluted New River!"

Not Enough New River?

Events befitting the turmoil of local water controversy have folks in California actually worried that we’re getting less and less of the most polluted river in North America.

Since the New River was formed in 1905 by the accidental breach of the irrigation delivery system from the Colorado River, Imperial County has annually received thousands of acre-feet of Mexican water free of charge. As Mexicali grew, however, so did the load of human feces, fertilizer, detergent, and the effluent from slaughterhouses and industrial plants. Just about every disease can be found in the New River. Fecal coliform counts remain thousands of times higher than allowed for human contact.

So why would anyone want this water? Since the historic Quantification Settlement Agreement was signed in 2003, California must find ways to live within its 4.4 million acre-feet allotment of water (something it has never done). And, despite its need to REDUCE its use of Colorado River water, southern California won’t be denied growth. Over the last fifty years, the New River has annually delivered about 150,000 acre-feet of water at the boundary, enough for about 300,000 homes. Filthy or not, that’s real water. So LA’s Metropolitan Water District has filed a claim on New River water.

If you doubt that New River water could be fit for any use, you’re wrong. The two U.S.-built power plants near Mt. Signal in Mexico have already tapped into New River water to cool their turbines. Recent looks at a US Geological Survey website show that annual flows of the New River at the international boundary are now 25% below 26 year average rates to about 112,500 acre-feet. Proposals for new transmission facilities near Mt. Signal indicate that SDG&E would like to build another power plant across the border to take advantage of a more streamlined permitting process, cheaper labor, and lax pollution enforcement. This means more Mexicali water diverted for cooling—and less water crossing the border.

All these developments have left the Calexico New River Committee puzzled. For five years, executive director Pablo Orozco and his committee have advanced a proposal to encase the New River from the border to beyond the Calexico city limits. They also want to put a trash screen at the border to stop the floating parade of debris and illegal immigrants who use the River. But how can they engineer an encasement project if the flow rate is a mysteriously shrinking target?

Meanwhile Mexicali is about to reduce the flow of the New River even further. A new pumping station and treatment plant known as Mexicali II will be operational this September. Funded by the U.S. EPA, Mexico, and Japan, this happy project is the culmination of steady progress to upgrade the Mexicali wastewater collection and treatment system. Much to the surprise of skeptical New River watchers, Mexicali will soon treat all its wastewater. Unfortunately, the US will no longer receive the treated water.

Mexicali II was set to be completed several years ago, but it was blocked by residents who didn’t want the waste-water treatment plant in their neighborhood of El Choropo, south of Mexicali. Consequently, an additional 18 kilometers of pipe had to be laid. Starting in September, 20 million gallons of water per day will be pumped “over the hump” of the ancient Colorado River delta. After treatment, that water will flow south, not north. Some treated New River water will irrigate a golf course and ecological park. Farmers may buy treated water for irrigation, and the remaining flow will drain into the Rio Hardy and the Sea of Cortez.

Suddenly the problem of the most polluted river in North America will have been transformed. Instead of the historical average of 150,000 acre-feet of water per year, the U.S. will receive only 90,000 acre-feet. The MWD wants the water, and so do we. Although a small part of the Salton Sea equation, a lessened New River flow at the border worsens an already intransigent problem about how to keep the Salton Sea wet.

Just when the New River will be substantially cleaner, just when the U.S. actually wants the New River water, the flow will drop by 40% of historical rates.

And soon it may be even less. Francisco Bernal, Mexicali representative of the International Boundary and Water Commission, has poured verbal acid into the turgid waters. “We plan to re-use all the New River water in Mexicali,” he said at a recent IBWC Citizens’ Forum meeting.

Bernal’s remarks were played down by Al Goff, Bernal’s counterpart in Yuma. “They’ll never eliminate the flow of water at the boundary,” said Goff. “At least not in our lifetimes.”

For water watchers in Southern California, there’s drama on every horizon.