SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The International Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Tijuana River Valley has been outdated and in need of refurbishment for years, unable to treat most of the water that flows in from Mexico, runoff that contains untreated sewage and bacteria.
It is operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which has been looking for funding to upgrade the facility.
About $300 million from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement has been set aside to help with sewage mitigation projects in the valley, and Congress recently allocated another $131 million.
Now, the IBWC says the federal government is providing an additional $156 million, most of which will help pay for the renovations to the wastewater treatment plant.
“We typically get about $53 million for construction for the entire border,” said Maria Elena Giner, IBWC’s commissioner. “A priority is San Diego because we are not meeting our water quality permits and we’re violating the federal law.”
The plant’s inability to treat the sewage coming in from Mexico means it has to release contaminated water into the Tijuana River Valley, effluent that flows all the way out to the Pacific Ocean.
This practice has been found to violate the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States.
“A federal facility operated by the federal government violating federal law, that definitely needs to be addressed quickly,” Giner said.
The plant’s refurbishing could begin later this summer when a contractor will be selected to do the work, an IBWC spokesperson said.
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