Federal, state, and local leaders gathered in Calexico to inspect the ongoing environmental and public health crisis plaguing the New River, signaling a renewed, coordinated push for a permanent solution to decades of transboundary pollution. … For decades, toxic waste has flowed north across the U.S.-Mexico border through the New River. The pollution causes significant ecological and health damage to Calexico residents and local communities stretching all the way to the Salton Sea. Now, the City of Calexico’s “New River Project” functions as a temporary defense system by screening heavy trash out of the water as it crosses the international border.

Other U.S.-Mexico water news:

• KESQ (Palm Desert, Calif.): Officials tackle New River pollution, cleanup efforts in Calexico
• San Diego Union-Tribune: Opinion: The Tijuana River Valley pollution crisis is trapped in politics