Thread: Sewage closes the border AZ.

Broken Sewer Line Affecting Pedestrians at Border

Updated: Tuesday, 12 Oct 2010, 9:43 PM MDT
Published : Tuesday, 12 Oct 2010, 9:43 PM MDT

NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — A broken sewer line in Nogales has resulted in the temporary closure of the pedestrian gate at the Morley port of entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say the Morley port will remain closed until repairs on the sewer line are completed.

Resources from the Morley port have been moved to the DeConcini pedestrian crossing to help facilitate travelers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Public works crews on both sides of the border are working to complete repairs as quickly as possible.

City officials say damage is limited to a breach in a manhole that provides access to a pipe carrying more than 13 million gallons of sewage per day to the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/im ... 10-12-2010

Is this like in San Diego where the U.S. pays to pump millions of gallons of Mexican sewage into the U.S. and the U.S. taxpayers pay to treat it?

Quick sewer fix to reopen border gate


Brady McCombs and Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, October 15, 2010 12:00 am
MAMTA POPAT / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The line carries 13 million gallons of sewage across the border on the way to a treatment plant in Rio Rico. A leak was discovered on Monday, and customs officials closed the Morley pedestrian crossing and opened more lanes at another Nogales port of entry.

Officials hope to complete a temporary repair of a ruptured sewer line in Nogales this weekend and reopen the Morley pedestrian gate.

To fix the problem over the short term, contractors are planning to build a temporary line that will run above ground across the border, said Nogales City Manager Shane Dille.

They expect to be finished on Saturday or Sunday, at which time U.S. Customs and Border Protection can reopen the Morley pedestrian border crossing, closed since Monday.

The temporary fix will allow workers to go in and fix the hole in the main sewer line that carries about 13 million gallons of raw sewage a day from from Nogales, Sonora, to Nogales, Ariz., on its way to a treatment plant about 8 1/2 miles north of the border in Rio Rico.

That repair is expected to take one to two weeks, he said. The plan is to insert a chemical into the existing pipe that adheres to the walls, creating a pipe within a pipe, Dille said.

The cost of both projects will be covered by the International Boundary and Water Commission, said agency spokeswoman Sally Spener. But it is unknown how much they will cost.

Officials discovered the leak on Monday, and the Morley Gate has been closed since. Customs officials have opened additional lanes at the nearby Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in the meantime.

A video camera inserted into the cross-border sewer line revealed a hole 18 to 20 inches across, Dille said. The hole is on the Mexican side of the border, near the downtown DeConcini port.

They still don't know what caused the hole. Until workers see the hole firsthand, it will be impossible to know what caused the problem. It could have been a mistake by a contractor who worked on this section of pipe or it could have been tunneling smugglers.

The city is channeling the sewage that enters Nogales back into the sewer system through manholes in the wash, Dille said.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 1fd7e.html