Day 6, West Coast — Calexico
It is our fifth day and as we were crossing into Calexico we stopped at a rest area. Martha Arguello mentioned that the New River was located nearby. I walked over to the barbwire fence and looked down toward the river, I was shocked to see nothing but a river of stagnate toxic green ooze stretching for miles.
We arrived at Nosotros Park in Calexico, a border town across from Mexicali, Mexico for a press conference. In attendance were local community representatives who live near New River and members of the Institute for Socio-Economic Justice and Progressive Community Development. At the town hall, residents expressed their frustration about how long the problem of the new river has gone on…. for over twenty years. We repeatedly heard the residents say, “No more studies. We know what is making us sick. We don’t need any more studies, we need action.” Residents were not happy with the alternatives being offered … they do not want the river treated with chlorine, they want it capped. Activists demanded an action plan with a time line and to know how much financial resources are going to be in the clean up plan.
We were moved by the public testimony of the residents. Many spoke about their concerns for the environment, the highly toxic river and the many years of broken promises by government agencies. One woman pulled down on her shirt and revealed her purple scar on her chest and said, “My cancer and the cancers of my neighbors are the impacts of this river.” She went on to say and reveal that she knew 13 families out of 21 in one block who have cancer in their households.
A representative of the California State Water Resources Board was confronted by residents and asked the agency to commit, in writing, to addressing some of their concerns.
Residents of Calexico described how the New River on the US side was being contaminated by US agricultural and industrial companies and also by Mexico. They took us for a tour and we were able to see first hand the Mexican outfall dumping its toxic slurry into the US side of the New River.
This community has been active. They talked of attending many meetings over the years and still the problems at the New River have not been addressed.
Among the accomplishments included having public warning signs placed all along the New River to warn US residents and Mexicans crossing the border of the extreme danger in entering the water.
-Jesse N. Marquez