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Where Colorado River No Longer Meets the Sea, a Pulse of Water Brings New Life

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Beside a canal that runs through farmland, rushing water roared through an irrigation gate and flowed down a concrete culvert toward a wetland fringed with cottonwoods and willows.

For decades, so much water has been diverted to supply farms and cities that the Colorado River has seldom met the sea and much of its delta in Mexico has been reduced to a dry riverbed, with only small remnants of its once-vast wetlands surviving.

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EPA Announces $630 Million Plan to Stem Cross-Border Sewage Flows

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Jessica Kutz

In March of 2018, the California cities of Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego sued the U.S. arm of the International Boundary and Water Commission over its failure to mitigate the flow of sewage-tainted water from the Tijuana River in Mexico. The lawsuit was in response to a February 2017 crisis, when more than 200 million gallons of sewage contaminated the California coast after a winter storm damaged sewer infrastructure in Mexico (“Two countries, one border and their shared pollution,” 12/06/18).

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Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life From the River’s Flows

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundationby Gary Pitzer

Water is flowing once again to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially turning the delta into a desert.

In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated river system.

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Little Action on Border Sewage Crisis Since $300M Announcement

/in , /by /Voice of San Diego by Gustavo Solis

Rain fell on San Diego Monday. It wasn’t a lot of rain – an Accuweather forecast called for “a brief morning shower or two” with an anticipated rainfall of 0.01 inches.

But it was enough to prompt a beach closure at the Tijuana Slough, just south of Imperial Beach. That section of the beach is closed whenever the Tijuana River is flowing.

Cross-border sewage spills have been an issue in South County for decades.

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Water Deliveries to Dry Delta Along U.S.-Mexico Border to Support Wildlife, Vegetation

/in , , /by /Spectrum News 1by Sarah Pilla

The mighty Colorado River used to flow freely all the way to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. But over the years, its delta and various ecosystems have dried up.

Thanks to an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, the delta will receive water deliveries for environmental purposes from now until October. This will help restore a landscape that once supported a rich diversity of life because, as scientists have discovered, life returns if you add some water.

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Colorado River at ‘Critical’ Levels, Water Deliveries to Mexico in Doubt

/in , , /by /BorderReport.com by Salvador Rivera Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Water levels in the Colorado River are a lot lower than normal reducing the water coming into Lake Powell and Lake Mead, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The level of water in the lake determines how much water will be delivered in the region.

“The reclamation who oversees the operation for the river is forecasting a shortage on the river for next year,” said Kelly Rodgers with the San Diego County Water Authority. “They are predicting a shortage in 2022.”

Rodgers said states such as Arizona and Nevada will see the difference, but not as much in California because agencies such as SDCWA have taken steps to diversify their water supply and have built storage reservoirs and other facilities.

 

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Clock is Ticking On Dreams of Saving Salton Sea With Water From Mexico’s Sea of Cortez

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Coachella Valley-based architect Nikola Lakic knows how to fix the withering Salton Sea. Or, at least he says he does.

Lakic believes it’s possible to import water from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez — or, perhaps, from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast — through a multi-billion-dollar system of pipes. He would construct mangrove habitat for natural water filtration, send desalinated water to geothermal plants and, amid all this, restore California’s largest lake.

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Two Sources of U.S.-Mexico Sewage Flows Are Fighting for One Pot of Money

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer and Vicente Calderón

If the San Diego-Tijuana region were a human body, it’d have the stomach flu: Bad stuff is coming out of both ends. But instead of tackling the complicated source of the infection, the border towns are fighting over where to put a Band-Aid.

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Mexico Makes Good on Water Debt to US

/in , , /by /The Monitorby Dina Arévalo

After nearly a year of uncertainty about whether Mexico would be able to fulfill its water debt to the United States, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that the two countries have reached an agreement to satisfy the debt by Friday, just one day before the treaty deadline to do so is set to expire.

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Tensions from Water-Sharing Deal with U.S. Boil Over In Mexico

/in , /by /Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazetteby Natalie Kitroeff

The farmers armed themselves with sticks, rocks and homemade shields, ambushed hundreds of soldiers guarding a dam and seized control of one of the border region’s most important bodies of water.

The Mexican government was sending water — their water — to Texas, leaving them next to nothing for their thirsty crops, the farmers said. So they took over the dam and have refused to allow any of the water to flow to the United States for more than a month.

“This is a war,” said Victor Velderrain, a grower who helped lead the takeover, “to survive, to continue working, to feed my family.”

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