Nogales sewage pipe to receive life-saving repair | Government & Politics



A cement-encased manhole to the wastewater sewer line marks the location where the wastewater pipe has been sheared below the surface and was leaking into Portrero Creek north of Nogales, Ariz., on Aug. 1, 2017. The pipes running horizontally along the bank are part of a bypass system built to divert the wastewater upstream around the break and to the water treatment plant in Rio Rico.


Ron Medvescek, Arizona Daily Star 2017

Susan Barnett Special to the Arizona Daily Star

A sewer leak spilled over 600,000 gallons of sewage near the city of Nogales, Arizona, over the course of eight days in the summer of 2017.

It was not the first or the last time, but it was the most significant indicator of the sewer pipeline’s condition. Sewage leaks are common in Nogales, and they bring with them the rancid smell of wastewater throughout the city.

“All the way from City Hall to the border, which is about a mile-and-a-half or 2 miles, the smell is so bad,” Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino said regarding the sewage pipe that runs through the heart of downtown. “We’re standing right here next to the plant, and this doesn’t smell the way that it smells (in Nogales).”

That 9-mile sewage pipe that starts in Nogales, Sonora, and travels through Nogales, Arizona, to the plant in Rio Rico will finally be repaired, marked by a groundbreaking ceremony late last month at the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant. But some say the much needed repair of the International Outfall Interceptor, also referred to as the IOI, does not go far enough to address long lasting issues.

After years of planning, the city of Nogales secured $38 million in funding for the sewage pipe repair. Since 2010, Congress has annually appropriated funds to rehabilitate the IOI for a total of $34.2 million. About $1.36 million of cost was shared with Mexico, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality provided $2.59 million in funding. Additionally, $1 million came from Freeport-McMoRan Inc., an American mining company founded in Phoenix.

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