CONGRESSMAN DUNCAN HUNTER Proudly Serving the 52nd District of California

www.house.gov/hunter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 27 July 1999                                                         CONTACT: Harald Stavenas 202/225-5672
 

HOUSE APPROVES FUNDING FOR SALTON SEA/NEW RIVER AND PALO VERDE DRAIN PROJECT

    WASHINGTON, D.C.---Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2605, the Fiscal Year 2000 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, which includes funding for three projects in Imperial County as requested by Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA 52).

    A total of $1.75 million was approved to cleanse the Salton Sea and its tributaries and $125,000 was included for a drainage project in Palo Verde.  “This funding furthers our environmental clean-up efforts in Imperial County,” said Hunter. “We are committed to restoring the Salton Sea and doing so in the memory of Sonny Bono and George Brown.”  Congressmen Bono and Brown, members of the Salton Sea Task Force, have both passed away.

    The funding breakdown is as follows:

Salton Sea Project -- H.R. 2605 includes $1,000,000 for Salton Sea clean-up. Since 1997, a total of $25.2 million has now been appropriated for Salton Sea feasibility studies and design efforts. The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to produce the engineering proposal for restoration of the Salton Sea by January 1, 2000.

New River cleanup -- $750,000 will go towards improving conditions in the New River and Alamo River.  The project is being run by Desert Wildlife Unlimited, headed by Brawley resident Leon Lesicka, the Imperial Irrigation District and the Bureau of Reclamation.  Once the effort is underway, the water will be purified through a series of terraced ponds, which will act as a natural filtration system.

Palo Verde Drain -- $125,000 for the design of the Palo Verde Drain project. As a result of the diversion of a portion of the Colorado River in 1968 (the Cibola Cut), the old river channel evolved into a nine mile extension of the Palo Verde Drain and has become a contaminated water hazard for local residents. In order to dilute this portion of the river channel, the Bureau of Reclamation will design and construct a culvert in the existing dam.

Leon Lesicka stands before the future site of a cleansing pond in Brawley, through which the New River will be diverted.