Azonie's Blog

How come we have to take their BLEEP? :-) Cross-Border Sewer Pipe in Nogales Threatened
August 28th, 2007 @ 2:33pm

Work crews in Nogales, Ariz., are scrambling to prevent a pipe carrying millions of gallons of sewage from Mexico into the U.S. from bursting.

Nogales Mayor Ignacio Barraza declared an emergency after heavy rains that fell Friday flooded the underground drainage system connecting his city with neighborning Nogales, Mexico. More than 116 feet of the concrete tunnel floor was ripped off.

Barraza says the concrete flooring protects a 30-inch pipe carrying millions of gallons of raw sewage a day from Mexico to a treatment plant in Rico Rico, Ariz., about 8.5 miles north of the border.

The pipe is in danger of rupturing and spilling the sewage into the Santa Cruz River.

If the sewage goes into the Santa Cruz River, it would eventually travel northward into the Gila River.

The mayor says if the pipe were to rupture it would create an environmental nightmare.

Barraza said they are ready with an emergency plan just in case.

"We are more than prepared, and have invoked and activated the emergency management team for the county to make sure that if evacuations were necessary we could conduct them," Barraza said.

Nearly 100 workers are scrambling to get the damaged floor shored up, but officials say all it would take is one big storm to burst the pipe.

Nogales is expecting rain tonight.

But the concrete/cement mix was having trouble setting in such wet conditions, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, which sent engineers from its El Paso headquarters to help local workers.

"It's a difficult situation and they are working under difficult conditions," Spener said.

Officials are worried that more rains could wipe out the repair efforts and breach the sewer main.

Barraza said engineers also are worried that additional heavy rains could wipe out more stretches of concrete in the tunnel, creating dams and causing flooding in Nogales.

If the pipeline does break, officials are prepared to treat the sewage with chlorine, Spener said. City officials, meanwhile, are prepared to evacuate affected residents, if necessary, Barraza said.

The city of Nogales has received assistance from Santa Cruz, Pima and Cochise counties, the Arizona Department of Corrections, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Damage to the drainage tunnels is estimated at about $10 million. Replacing concrete or rebuilding stretches could be costly -- some of the tunnel system was built in the 1930s, Barraza said.

"It's aging, ailing infrastructure," he said.