SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The Environmental Protection Agency and International Boundary and Water Commission on Tuesday announced the fast-track expansion of the International Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Tijuana River Valley.
The facility has been in a state of disrepair for years and had been undergoing a remodel to double its capacity at a cost of more than $600 million, with the work was slated to take several years to complete.
Buts according to the EPA and the IBWC, the construction will now be done in 100 days, expanding capacity from 25 million gallons to 35 million per day.
“It’s something we’ve been asking for a long time,” said Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach, the American city most affected by the sewage and pollution that comes in from Mexico on a daily basis.
The contamination has forced the city’s beaches to be closed for more than 1,000 consecutive days.
Aguirre said she is grateful to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for expediting the project. He visited the Tijuana River Valley a few weeks ago to get a firsthand look at the problem.
“The fact he’s putting political will toward this, is important,” Aguirre said.
However, she does caution people not to see this as an end-all.
“The beaches won’t be open just because we’re accelerating the 10 million gallons per day, let’s be very clear, we don’t want to give false hope.”
Aguirre, who has been one of the biggest proponents of the wastewater treatment plant remodel, tells Border Report the biggest hurdle remains the Tijuana River itself.
Sewage, chemicals and other pollution enter the United States from Tijuana via the river. These materials are not processed at the treatment plant and simply flow all the way to the ocean.
The facility only takes in sewage-contaminated water that comes in directly from a pump station immediately south of the border.
When the pump on the Mexican side of the border breaks down, or when the plant is overrun by tainted water coming in from Mexico, especially during storms, it releases the untreated water into the Tijuana River Valley, and the water eventually makes it out to sea as well.
“The river is the main source of pollution and not the plant,” Aguirre said. “Our communities are paying the price, they’re being exposed to toxic chemicals and heavy metals, we’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t divert and treat the river itself, full stop.”
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