I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 438 
To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to estab-
lish a California New River restoration program to build on, and help 
coordinate funding for, restoration and protection efforts relating to 
the New River, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 11, 2017 
Mr. VARGAS (for himself and Mr. HUNTER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency to establish a California New River restoration 
program to build on, and help coordinate funding for, 
restoration and protection efforts relating to the New 
River, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘California New River 
Restoration Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the New River was born out of the Colorado 
River’s occasional flows into the Salton Sink and the 
erosion of the New River channel which formed the 
deep river canyon between 1905 and 1907; 
(2) the New River starts in Mexicali, Mexico, 
flows north into the United States through Calexico, 
passes through the Imperial Valley and drains into 
the Salton Sea, roughly 66 miles north of the inter-
national boundary, and the sub-watershed covers ap-
proximately 750 square miles, with 63 percent of 
that in Mexico and 37 percent in the United States; 
(3) the New River has been widely recognized 
for its significant water pollution problems, pri-
marily because of agricultural runoff, raw sewage, 
pesticides, and discharges of wastes from domestic, 
agricultural, and industrial sources in Mexico and 
the Imperial Valley; 
(4) by the 1980s, the New River acquired the 
reputation of being one of the most polluted rivers 
in the United States, with many of the pollutants 
posing serious human health hazards to local popu-
lations, particularly those in Calexico and Mexicali; 
(5) in 1992, the International Boundary Water 
Commission’s Treaty Minute No. 288 established a 
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sanitation strategy for the New River water quality 
problems at the international boundary and divided 
the sanitation projects into two immediate repairs 
projects, the Mexicali I and the Mexicali II, which 
totaled about $50 million dollars and were funded by 
both countries through the North American Develop-
ment Bank; 
(6) in 1995, the Environmental Protection 
Agency provided funds to the California Regional 
Water Quality Control Board to monitor and docu-
ment the water quality at the international boundary 
on a monthly basis; 
(7) in the late 1990s, the United States and 
Mexico spent $100 million (45 percent paid by Mex-
ico and 55 percent paid by the United States) to 
build the Las Arenitas and Zaragoza Wastewater 
Treatment plants, and untreated New River water 
passing through four microbial treatment cells at 
Las Arenitas was then chlorinated and fed into a re- 
forestation project along the desiccated Rio Hardy 
which stretches to the Sea of Cortez; 
(8) a 10-year effort by community groups, law-
yers, regulatory agencies, and politicians addressed 
the problem at the source by federally funding a new 
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sewage treatment plant in Mexicali and developing a 
site plan for the river on the United States side; 
(9) in 2009, the State of California required the 
California-Mexico Border Relations Council to create 
a strategic plan to study, monitor, remediate, and 
enhance the New River’s water quality to protect 
human health and develop a river parkway suitable 
for public use; 
(10) in 2012, the California-Mexico Border Re-
lations Council approved the strategic plan for the 
New River Improvement Project prepared by the 
New River Improvement Project Technical Advisory 
Committee; 
(11) in 2016, the New River Improvement 
Project Technical Advisory Committee revised the 
recommended infrastructure of the New River Im-
provement Project, and the State of California ap-
propriated $1.4 million to provide grants or con-
tracts to implement the necessary planning, design, 
environmental review, and permitting work; 
(12) the revised New River Improvement 
Project includes the installation of a large trash 
screen, a conveyance system, aeration devices, a new 
pump station and managed wetlands; and 
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(13) the existing and ongoing voluntary con-
servation efforts at the New River necessitate im-
proved efficiency and cost effectiveness, as well as 
increased private-sector investments and coordina-
tion of Federal and non-Federal resources. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency. 
(2) MEXICAN.—The term ‘‘Mexican’’ refers to 
the Federal, State, and local governments of the 
United Mexican States. 
(3) NEW
RIVER.—The term ‘‘New River’’ 
means the river that starts in Mexicali, Mexico, 
flows north into the United States through Calexico, 
passes through the Imperial Valley, and drains into 
the Salton Sea. 
(4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 
the California New River restoration program estab-
lished under section 4. 
(5) RESTORATION
AND
PROTECTION.—The 
term ‘‘restoration and protection’’ means the con-
servation, stewardship, and enhancement of habitat 
for fish and wildlife to preserve and improve eco-
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