74 Coachella

74 Coachella
t the height of the grape harvest in the Coachella Valley many workers bathe after work in irrigation canals and drainage ditches. The growers and government authorities do not provide housing with bathing facilities for seasonal grape pickers. Justino Macias comes from Mexicali, on the US border 100 miles to the south, to pick grapes every year, and cleans up in irrigation water in a ditch emptying into the Salton Sea. The water contains pesticides and fertilizer runoff.

photographs and stories by David Bacon © 1990-1999

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