Board approves resolution to seek feds action on New River
On Tuesday, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution urging the federal government to get involved with local and state efforts to find a viable solution to deal with raw sewage bypasses that has been occurring south of the border.
So far in 2017, the city of Mexicali has had four raw sewage bypasses as a result of aging sewage and water infrastructure.
The executive officer for the state Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin Jose Angel, spoke to the board on the latest developments regarding the challenges occurring at the sea and the latest meeting between regional, state and federal officials.
During Tuesday’s presentation, Angel said that cooler heads prevailed at the meeting and in the end officials were in support of a plan presented by Angel which calls to help the city of Mexicali obtain $1 million worth of equipment that can be used to stop the spills. The estimate to fix and replace all necessary infrastructures is about $80 million.
“We’re in there for the long haul for the next five to 10 years if those $80 million can be secured,” Angel said. “The immediate need at this point is to deal with the raw sewage and prevent that sewage from coming into this side of the border, that should be our priority and that is what we presented to federal officials.”
As a result of the meeting on April 19, the agencies involved are now preparing a binational package to seek funding to address the dire infrastructure needs that are having serious repercussion on the U.S. side of the border.
Angel said he expects the equipment to be acquired within the next three months to be able to handle the current situation before considering future options.
“If the equipment is not secured you can quite frankly expect additional bypasses and that would significantly undermine what we do on this side of the border particularly in the Calexico area,” Angel said. “It would be impractical to implement the projects on this side of the border if we continue to get raw sewage.”
Angel suggested Tuesday, and in a Colorado River Citizens Forum the week before, that the federal government will have to at some point reconsider its policy and approach. One idea he has presented officials with is the ability to cut off any stream coming from Mexico if quality and quantity can’t be controlled an idea that District 2 Supervisor Luis Plancarte spoke in favor of.
“If there is a way to reroute sewage south he would be in favor of it, by all means, let’s get it done,” he said.
Angel mentioned during the meeting that California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Matt Rodriquez is planning a meeting with county, Imperial Irrigation District and city of Calexico officials next week to have a better understanding of what each agency is doing to facilitate coordination among them as it relates to the New River Improvement Project.
The resolution states that if the current situation at the New River isn’t dealt with properly, it puts all projects to clean the river at risk.
“...without having the United States Federal Government and Mexico provide the aforesaid equipment and implement satisfactory abatement to eliminate the raw sewage, the New River Improvement Project Strategic Plan’s recommendations for Calexico are not achievable,” the resolution states.
The board voted unanimously in favor to approve the resolution.