The New River Improvement Project – Calexico Reach is a public health project that will divert contaminated New River flows around the populated City of Calexico area to reduce the public health threat from human contact with pollutants in the New River. The polluted water will be diverted via an underground bypass encasement pipe that will be located southwesterly of the New River. Treated wastewater that meets water quality standards for human contact recreation would be pumped from the City of Calexico wastewater treatment plant to the location where contaminated water is diverted out of the New River to maintain flow in the 1.5-mile section of the River channel.

Panorama assisted the City of Calexico with obtaining permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, California Regional Water Quality Control Board, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife for the 1.5-mile long river diversion. Panorama prepared a Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Plan and an Adaptive Management and Monitoring Plan to address the risks of impacts to riparian areas and wetlands from the project. Panorama also assisted the City in developing a conceptual hydrologic model and developing information to characterize the existing hydrologic conditions in the area.