There’s a problem with Tijuana’s lifeline to its single water source – the Colorado River– which forced it make more, costly emergency water purchases from California.

The San Diego County Water Authority recently learned that problems emerged with Tijuana’s aqueduct in December, according to a press release this week. Tijuana requested emergency water from San Diego on Jan. 2, which the Water Authority expedited through a typical months-long approval process involving water agencies that also have to sign-off on emergency orders from Mexico.