ADEQ, Cocopah team up to fight river trash

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is combining with the Cocopah Tribe to provide a boost to the Colorado River system.

Illegal immigrant and other dumping has led to an estimated 20 to 30 tons of waste along the river basin, a main artery of entry into the United States, the ADEQ says. Immigrants use the waterway to cross the border, then follow it north.

If they're discovered - or simply wish to travel lighter - the result is significant litter and more major environmental hazards that kill plant and animal life and pollute land and water. But, according to ADEQ Director Steve Owens, the problem isn't limited to immigrants.

"People that do this come from virtually all walks of life," Owens said. "Immigrants, contractors dumping materials, people cleaning out their garage. There's a major problem because they think they can dump whatever they want."

Much of the mess, at least on 60 acres of the north Cocopah Indian Reservation along the river, will be removed Saturday during the ADEQ's Undocumented Migrant Waste Project, a teaming of state, local and Cocopah officials and volunteer and community groups. The land area is part of the tribe's Wetland Restoration Area.

ADEQ will provide the cleaning materials, while C and D Disposal provides dumpsters and transportation, according to Cocopah Public Information Officer Liz Pratt. The Border Patrol will maintain its designated assignments in the area to ensure safety.

"We expect tons of garbage," said Mark Shaffer, director of communications for the Phoenix-based environmental agency. "We've found that coyote organizations are looking at rivers and other areas of natural access. So we've been focusing on more established immigrant trails. Many immigrants are walking up the Santa Cruz and Colorado rivers."

The ADEQ has also found that fewer past patrols on Indian lands enticed immigrants to those areas. But recent crackdowns by tribal police in some of those areas have lessened the number of illegal crossings, something the Border Patrol hopes will continue.

"We're fully endorsing what they do," said Border Patrol Agent Michael Bernacke, who noted that immigrant arrests are down significantly from 2005, when upward of 800 individuals would be arrested daily in some sectors. Bernacke said there were two occasions within the last week when fewer than 10 arrests were made in the Yuma area.

"It's a whole lot safer than in years past, and the border trash is pretty nasty. We'd like to help mitigate it if we can."

The ADEQ is often able to recycle some materials, like water bottles, aluminium cans and even tires - which can be turned into fuel via cement kilns. But because of the rural location and difficulty in reaching the area to be cleaned Saturday, all waste taken from the site will go to directly to the South Yuma County Landfill.

The prolonged exposure to elements is expected to have broken down many materials to the point where they cannot be recycled, Owens said, while others might be soiled or contain other bodily fluids or transmittable diseases via abandoned pharmaceuticals.

"(Immigrants) come across without much scrutiny (in Indian areas) and that creates additional issues for us," Owens said. "It's extremely serious across Arizona and especially in the Yuma area because of rivers and the high water table. If there's a big rain, like there was in Yuma within the last few weeks, you get the toxic runoff and acid seeping into the ground."

The Environmental Protection Agency and ADEQ held a June 17 interagency meeting with 10 tribes across the state to address the issue. The Cocopahs have a fuels-reduction grant from the National Wildlife Federation that led to a partial cleanup of illegal dumping of petroleum and other products. The next phase, according to the EPA, will be to fence the area of dumping to prevent access. Some native plant and animal species have rallied because of the varying cleanups and numbers continue to be monitored. Following the cleanups, the Bureau of Reclamation partners with the Cocopahs to reclaim land.

Volunteers, who are still being accepted, will begin cleanup at 7 a.m. Saturday. The effort will last until noon. Those interested can reach Shaffer by phone at 1-602-771-2215 or via e-mail at ms15@azdep.gov or contact Pratt at 627-2102, Ext. 14.

"We're expecting 40-50 volunteers," Shaffer said.

Thirty to 40 of those are expected to be from Yuma County's juvenile corrections, Pratt said.

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Matt Keller can be reached at 539-6857.