🚀 go-pugleaf

 The report below is part of what I prepared in response to requests from
Congressmen Brian Bilbray and Duncan Hunter.  Staff from the offices of
Congressman Bob Filner and Senator Dianne Feinstein are also working to
help solve this example of the long time problem of really direct and
timely communication concerning flood dangers from the Rodriguez Dam in
Tijuana and the downstream recipients in the San Diego Area.  Read
on......

The Rodriguez Dam Bomb Incident

* At least two bombs were planted at the Rodriguez Dam, with a possible
third bomb, not verified.  Authorities in Tijuana were notified about the
bombs on March 5th at 9AM.  The Mexican Army took charge of the dam site
and closed all official communication lines concerning the status of the
bombs or Rodriguez Dam.  The San Diego Police Department was unofficially
leaked the first information about the bombs at 6 that evening.  Officers
just off duty were called back in to plan an emergency response to
possible dam breach flooding.  
* Rodriguez Dam lies on a fault and has long had flaws in it's structure. 
Any failure of the dam would lead to disastrous consequences on both sides
of the border.  Resulting floodwater inundation would extend from
Borderfield Park to Ream Field as well as cutting a swath of destruction
northwards to San Diego Bay.  The 1916 100-year flood event put part of
Palm Avenue in the San Diego/Imperial Beach area under 8 feet of water. 
Sections of Highway 5 would be flooded.  
* The 1980 San Diego Police Department "Contingency Plan for Flooding"
indicates that it would take 49 minutes for the flood to cross the border.
 The wave would be 16 feet high.  Six foot high waters would engulf
Southwest High School and Nestor Grade School .  We would have had time to
evacuate, if we were organized and had foreknowledge that Rodriguez been
breached.
* There are also two U.S. dams located in the bi-national Tijuana River
Watershed.  Morena and Barrett dam failures would result in devastation on
both sides of the border.  If Barrett failed, for instance, it would take
22 minutes for a 34-foot high wall  of water to enter the Cottonwood
Creek-Tecate Creek junction in Mexico.  Morena flows into Barrett, which
flows through Cottonwood Creek to enter Rio Alamar  and the Tijuana River
north of the Rodriguez Dam.  A failure in either of these two dams would
result in massive damage to rural properties bordering Cottonwood Creek
and Rio Alamar in both the U.S. and Mexico.  Any flooding would also
endanger U.S. Border Patrol agents and illegal immigrants alike operating
in the valleys affected, as a result of Operation Gatekeeper.
**************************************************************************
******

Page  .2.  C.A.R.E./Rodriguez Dam// 

Other than bashing Mexico for not sharing the potential danger from the
terrorist 
bombing attempt on Rodriguez, and remember, they didn't even share the
knowledge with their own municipal agencies or politicians, so that they
could gear up for 
evacuation and/or a disaster, we need a binding commitment from Mexico to
partner with the U.S. for a bi-national  early warning system for dam
failures.  All dam information from the three dams in the watershed should
be linked to both nations.  Early warning audible systems (sirens) should
be placed so that those threatened would be aware of imminent danger and
evacuation routes identified as part of the plan.  A disaster preparedness
plan is needed.  We in California should remember that dam disasters are
still today's reality:  Folsom Dam failed just last summer.

The Tia Juana Valley County Water District had established the need for an
"Emergency Action Plan for the Tijuana River Watershed."  The District
submitted a its proposal for the plan to the California Border
Environmental Cooperation Committee (CALBECC).  The proposal was published
in a Needs Assessment by CALBECC in spring of 1995.  The District followed
this action by applying for a grant to EPA in October of 1995. 
**********************************************************
 I received several responses to the posting.  Many were from other border
areas with the similar problems: from the lower Rio Grande, Nogales,
Falcon Dam, etc.
                                        >snip<
>A cross border warning system would be great and would undoubtedly 
save lives, but it does nothing to address the total disaster of a breach 
in a large dam.  Falcon Reservoir, when full, covers approximately 88,000 
acres...that is a tall drink of water.  I am interested in what measures 
are being taken to prevent a breach.  I believe that one of the reasons 
that the US has not had too much in the way of terrorist activity is that 
the Russians didn't permit terrorists to strike.  U.S. facilities are not 
secured against attack, but would be if the need was demonstrated.  We 
are very vulnerable. <
                                            >snip<
>As in other aspects of law enforcement, 
prevention is generally more effective than after-the-fact apprehension.<
                                             >snip<
>I am a U.S.-Mexico border journalist based in Las Cruces, NM. I am
intrigued by your report and am interested in following up on the story. I
work for several newspapers, magazines and Reuters news service.<
                                               >snip<
I received a phone call from yet another Reuters News Service journalist,
also wanting a story.

Several State and local politicians, the San Diego Police Department and
Border Patrol also have vested interests and have been calling since the
San Diego Union Tribune quoted me.  Along with obvious professional
interests many have or have friends and families that have homes and other
interests in the flood inundation path of waters from a failed Rodriguez
Dam.  Congressman Bilbray's house and horses are located in the floodway.

A Treaty Minute with Mexico using the already established conduit between
the U.S. International Boundary & Water Commission looks like the most
likely legal mechanism to obtain a commitment to an Early Warning System,
but it would be difficult to feel secure when the Rodriguez incident is
still being denied by officials in Mexico City and the Mexican Army.

Any thoughts?

Carolyn Powers
Director/Tia Juana Valley County Water District
Chairman/CARE
CARE4TRV@aol.com