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Every year Pima County gives $25,000 to Humane Borders to help pay for water stations in the desert — a move the Board of Supervisors is poised to approve again today.

Humane Borders maintains 80 water stations, most consisting of a single 65-gallon water barrel fitted with a spigot and a 30-foot-high flag to alert illegal immigrants, along the most heavily trafficked corridors. The county expenditure represents about 14 percent of the program's $180,000 annual cost.

The program has drawn criticism from opponents of illegal immigration who say this amounts to "aiding and abetting" illegal immigration in violation of federal law.

Defenders, who are just as passionate, say the water stations are a humanitarian response to the lack of federal immigration reform.

In recent years, Supervisor Ann Day has cast the lone no vote against the funding.

"We see this item every year, and I think that over the course of these years, we would have been better off working cooperatively with the federal government, other border counties and the Tohono O'odham Nation on a comprehensive strategy of rescue beacons and 911 capability on surveillance towers," Day said. "These deaths are a tragedy, but there are better solutions."

She said rescue beacons present no ambiguity in terms of possibly aiding illegal activity.

Supervisor Richard Elías, a strong supporter of providing water, said the program doesn't encourage illegal activity.

"People are not crossing the desert to get a drink of water," he said. "The tragedy of all those people dying in the desert continues, and we need to have a moral response that also saves taxpayers money in terms of picking up those bodies, doing those autopsies. No one wishes more than me that we didn't have to do this."

The number of bodies of illegal immigrants handled by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner has decreased this year from the past two years. From Jan. 1 through Oct. 6, the office handled 136 bodies, down from 190 at the same time in 2007 and 155 in 2006, said Dr. Bruce Parks, chief medical examiner. 

The decline could be a result of the worsening economy discouraging potential entrants, cooler summertime temperatures this year, water stations or a combination.

The Rev. Randy Mayer of Good Shepherd United Church of Christ in Sahuarita and a board member of Humane Borders, said groups that work with migrants know the water tanks serve their purpose.

"Migrants that have successfully crossed have said, 'I was near death, and I came across a water station, and it saved my life,' " he said.

Mayer said the water stations have another positive effect — keeping the human cost of immigration policy as part of the debate.

"These are human beings that are being forced into this walk for survival," Mayer said.

But to Lee Ewing, president of Arizonans for Immigration Control, the water stations represent using taxpayer dollars to aid and abet illegal activity. He said wealthy business owners who take advantage of cheap labor are the beneficiaries.

"This is not humanitarian," he said. "If we had halfway decent law enforcement in Arizona, anyone who votes for this would be arrested and thrown in jail."