The United States government approved US $250 million in short-term funding on Dec. 20 to expand the South Bay International Water Treatment Plant in San Diego, California.
The long-awaited project helps to address a major cross-border pollution problem by improving the treatment of wastewater flowing north from the Tijuana River.
State Treasurer Fiona Ma Urges Congress to Support Cleanup Measures in Tijuana River Valley Watershed Following Trip to San Diego County: https://t.co/hH2r8wjobB pic.twitter.com/5oYiU3vaG7
— Fiona Ma, CPA (@fionama) October 17, 2024
Wastewater from the city of Tijuana is supposed to be diverted, treated and discharged into the Pacific Ocean before entering the Tijuana River Valley in southern California. The city’s sewage treatment facilities are outdated and overwhelmed, however, leading to a clog in the system that pushes an unsightly mass of sewage and debris north of the border, particularly impacting Imperial Beach in San Diego.
As a result, Imperial Beach is considered one of the United States’ most polluted beaches nationwide.
“No more excuses and no more delays,” Fox 5 reported Democratic Congressman Mike Levin saying. “They now have all the money they need and all the money that they’ve said is necessary to get this plant done.”
The new funding package is expected to double the San Diego facility’s capacity to 50 million gallons a day within an estimated five to seven years.
Over the last five years, more than 100 billion gallons of sewage and waste have reportedly run into the Tijuana River Valley. San Diegans have been calling on the government to address the worsening pollution for years, hoping it will lead to the eventual reopening of Imperial Beach.
In January, Baja California officials broke ground on work to reconstruct and modernize Tijuana’s existing wastewater treatment plant in San Antonio de los Buenos. The upgrades are part of an estimated US $500 million binational project financed by the North American Development Bank, an entity funded and run equally by the federal governments of the U.S. and Mexico to provide financing for infrastructure projects.
New 450-meter barrier takes on Tijuana River Valley trash
Also in December, the state of California launched an innovative trash-collecting project with federal funding of $4.7 million. A trash boom measuring 137 meters (450 feet) in length and consisting of 150 individual sections tethered together has been anchored to both sides of the Tijuana River.
The boom is expected to help gather particle pollution close to the source outflow and stop waste from reaching the ocean, with the first phase of the project running to 2027.
“California is working with our local and federal partners to address the ongoing Tijuana River crisis,” California Governor Gavin Newsom stated. “This project to stop trash from clogging the river is part of an all-of-the-above approach we’re taking to help protect Tijuana River Valley communities.”
Oscar Romo, the Project Director at Alta Terra, proposed the project around two decades ago. The large, floating boom is designed to adapt to the changing topography of the river valley.
“The valley changes constantly every year after the storms,” Romo said. “All the hydraulic models that have been done have to be redone because they changed this year,” NBC San Diego reported Romo saying. “We are prepared, and we have started mapping the valley with a drone that produces lighter images, so we would have an exact three-dimensional map of the valley before the storms, during the storms and after the storms.”
While the boom project doesn’t address the sewage issue, it will go hand in hand with the wastewater treatment plant expansion to tackle water pollution on both sides of the border.
With reports from Fox 5 San Diego, Surfer, NBC San Diego and Axios
