Sewage spills over border near Naco
Wastewater flows north for months
NACO, Ariz. – While emergency crews rushed in July to contain a sizable leak of raw sewage from Mexico into the Santa Cruz River near Nogales, a similar leak on the border has sent hundreds of gallons of wastewater north for months.
That flow, from Naco, Sonora, to its sister town of Naco, Arizona, continues.
Local officials called on Rep. Martha McSally on Monday and an international commission to help end what’s been an ongoing, well-known problem for nearly four decades.
The wastewater surges from manholes and backed-up water-treatment ponds in Mexico. Because of differences in elevation, the effluent water flows downhill through the city, then along newly-installed bollard fencing on the border. It ends up in a wash on the American side, approaching wells and the drinking water supplies for communities in Naco and Bisbee.
Ranchers and property owners in this unincorporated community south of Bisbee said they’ve grown frustrated by the slow response to the spill.
“It’s sewage, and it’s on the ground. And I’m going to have to deal with it for a long time,” said John Ladd. From the border fence, the foul-smelling wastewater flows onto his cattle ranch.
“If it continues, when I market my cattle, who’s going to want to buy a calf that’s been drinking sewage water?”
Cochise County health officials assured residents that the latest spill hasn’t tainted the water supply.
Residents have been dealing with similar spills in the area since the 1980s, as infrastructure on the Mexican side hasn’t kept pace with population growth. The population of Naco, Sonora, is almost seven times larger than its American twin community.
This year, wastewater started flowing north in June, according to residents. Local authorities blame pump failures on the Mexican side.
Questions linger over who’s responsible for the cleanup on the American side.
Land owners called on the International Water and Boundary Commission to take action in Naco. By treaty, the binational group oversees a range of water issues along the Arizona border, including the cross-border sewage pipe that ruptured in Nogales in July.
On Monday, at the invitation of local residents, McSally, R-Ariz., toured the site of the spill, just west of the Naco border crossing.
“It’s taking way too long,” the congresswoman said after meeting with property owners to discuss the problem.
“Bureaucracies tend to be slow,” she said. “But when you’re talking about impacts on communities, that are impacting potentially health and clean drinking water and other environmental impacts, they need to react much more swiftly than this, for sure.”
But a spokeswoman for the IBWC said the spills don’t fall under the treaty.
“We don’t have a jurisdiction or authority,” said Lori Kuczmanski of the IBWC. “But in goodwill and good faith we loaned a pump to Mexico to help them out, to rectify this situation in a timely manner. We care about Arizonans.”
She said jurisdiction for cleanup efforts and a permanent solution in Naco falls to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the 1983 La Paz Agreement. The accord created a framework for U.S. and Mexican stakeholders to address a series of environmental issues along the border.
The EPA did not responded to requests for comment on the Naco spills.
The pump has been running since last week, Kuczmanski said, and will help Mexican officials alleviate backed-up wastewater ponds and eventually stem the flow across the border.
The Cochise County Environmental Health Division has been using chlorine tablets in the wash to treat the wastewater and remove most of the harmful bacteria.
“It is our understand that the loan of this piece of equipment is basically a Band-Aid. It is not a long-term solution,” said Carl Hooper, county environmental health specialist.
“We are looking at either the folks from International Boundary and Water (sic), the folks from EPA or ... our neighbors to the south to come up with a long-term solution to the issue that they have,” he added. “Otherwise this will continue.”
The Arizona Water Co. operates four wells several hundred yards north of the spill in Naco, and provides drinking water to 3,000 households. The company said customers have no reason to worry about their drinking water.
Joe Mauzy, the company’s vice president of operations, said because the issue has been going on for nearly 40 years, they test the water in their wells almost daily. They also do more thorough testing on a monthly basis, as required by the state.
“The water is safe,” he said.
Ladd said regardless of who takes the lead, he’d like to see a permanent fix on the Mexico side.
“That’s more frustrating than any of it, because Naco, Sonora, is supposed to be the sister city and all that. It’s hypocritical,” he said. “Somebody wants to go over there to the dentist, or buy cheap booze and cigarettes, then we’re real good friends. But you want to take care of a major pollution problem, they don’t care.”