Santa Cruz River in jeopardy if international sewage pipe ruptures again, experts fear
A stretch of Santa Cruz River in Tucson./Angelica Cabral, Cronkite news
Some residents in Santa Cruz County are warning that the pipeline carrying raw sewage from Mexico into the United States could rupture as it did during last year’s monsoon millions of gallons of waste were spewed into the Nogales Wash over seven days.
The wash is a main tributary of the Santa Cruz River, which begins near Patagonia and flows south into Mexico before making a U-turn back into Arizona, where it finally reaches Tucson, 70 miles north of the border. It then flows up to Eloy and Casa Grande.
The 8.5-mile pipeline can transport 14 million gallons daily from Nogales, Mexico, and Nogales, Arizona, to a treatment plant in Rio Rico. Treated water then is released into the Santa Cruz to support riparian areas and recharge the water table.
