City of Calexico unveils New River Improvement Project

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The City of Calexico held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the New River Improvement Project - Calexico Reach last week.

Several lawmakers, including Calexico Mayor Diana Nuricumbo, attended the ceremony, which happened near the banks of the New River last Friday, May 23, at 10:00 a.m.

The project received over $48 million in investments from "the State of California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Department of Water Resources (DWR), Salton Sea Authority and Department of Parks and Recreation," according to the City, and also reflected "years of collaborative advocacy."

According to the City, the project consists of three of the following primary construction components:

• Trash screen and diversion structure for the New River downstream from the
• International Boundary with Mexico.
• Bypass encasement infrastructure for the New River from a point downstream of the
  International Boundary to a point downstream of the eastern boundary of the City of
  Calexico to address the public health threat that New River water quality poses to the
  southern area of the city.

"The third component is the pumpback system...it will be bringing in the treated water and delivering it to the diversion structure trash screen area and that way it would be diluting the water and it will not be polluted as much," said Lily Falomir, Public Works Manager for the City of Calexico.

Falomir says this project is more than 30 years in the making and hopes it finally helps clean up the new river.