Dave Gibson, who leads the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, has for years tried to help solve the cross-border sewage contamination problem stemming from Tijuana.
With $200,000 in state funds available to address water quality problems arising in the rivers that come across the border from Mexico, he wanted to give that money to Tijuana.
His hope was that Tijuana would install a Smart Covers Systems, satellite manhole monitoring devices that could help Tijuana eliminate sewer overflows in real time. The program also could stop sewage spills, keep streets clean and lessen polluted waters that make their way onto local shores in Imperial Beach and Coronado.
Gibson told The Coronado News that he asked two federal entities to recommend Smart Covers Systems or other similar devices to help with sewerage system management especially “given the number and extent of sanitary sewer overflows that were occurring.”
But the Environmental Protection Agency and International Boundary and Water Commission, which runs the international wastewater treatment plant on the United States and Mexico border, appear to have dropped the ball as Tijuana officials say they never got an official offer, The Coronado News has found.
IBWC San Diego Field Office Area Operations Manager Morgan Rogers told The Coronado News that he received information on the manhole covers.
However, Rogers said other priorities within IBWC took precedence.
I did not immediately forward the information…Unfortunately, I was unable to spend the time to properly review the information and make it presentable.”
-Morgan Rogers, IBWC San Diego Field Office Area Operations Manager.
“I determined that the information needed to be repackaged for clarity to my MX [México] counterparts, so I did not immediately forward the information,” wrote Rogers in an email. “Unfortunately, I was unable to spend the time to properly review the information and make it presentable…so this information was never forwarded.”
Offer still stands
Gibson said the offer still stands.
The opportunity is still there.”
-Dave Gibson, who leads the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on the financial offer.
“It was discouraging, but it is one of the challenges we face in working binationally, how to work out some of the finer details of this,” said Gibson. “The opportunity is still there.”
Roberto Espinosa Mora, who has represented the boundary commission in Tijuana for more than 30 years, said there was never official communication through proper channels about the project.
Mora told The Coronado News that these types of initiatives must be coordinated primarily between the binational governmental offices headquartered in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua in Mexico.
According to Mora, members of a binational group working on international boundary issues, learned about the initiative last year when IBWC Commissioner Maria Elena Giner and Gibson mentioned it.
However, he said Gibson was told to make his proposal official and to submit it to the IBWC “for us to officially respond.”
Mora said that the Mexican government still is waiting for an official proposal of the project in writing so that government officials there can share it with proper agencies in Tijuana.
“That is why I am aware of it…and my central office is also aware of it…so far the initiative is there,” Mora said. “From our perspective, this initiative is just in the process of being carried out and negotiations have not been suspended.”
Fraction of allocated funds
The missed opportunity for $200,000 in state funds comes as U.S. and Mexican officials say at least $1 billion is needed to fix an environmental crisis that has occurred since the Great Depression.
The two countries have pledged to spend at least $474 million to collectively address the Tijuana sewage problem, with $330 million coming from the U.S.
A Coronado News investigation found that decades of broken promises by political leaders from both countries have resulted in tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing from Tijuana into the U.S., with overflows not captured by the treatment plant and additional sewage dumps in Mexico making its way onto the shores of Imperial Beach and Coronado.
This environmental crisis has caused numerous beach closures, affecting the local economies and sickening residents, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Navy SEALS, the Coronado News found.
Since that reporting earlier this year, local, state and federal officials have called upon Newsom and President Biden to declare states of emergencies to fast-track construction on sewage projects on both sides of the border.
On Aug. 9, officials from both countries reiterated they were committed to finishing about a half-billion worth of projects over five years.
Sewerage system monitoring
Gibson notes that the bi-lateral plan, known as Minute 328, could have used the monitoring of sewage inside manholes.
According to Gibson, development for this type of project has been in the works since 2018.
He added that attempts for communication among key binational stakeholders to share information related to project materials and planning took place from December 2021 through the end of last year.
“This is a very, very well-developed technology in the U.S.,” said Gibson. “It would allow them to monitor their system the way that cities and counties and districts in our region do.”
Backed and clogged up manholes in Tijuana are reported causes for gallons of transboundary sewage flows entering the US, according to Transboundary Flow Reports by the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Money would fund 15 manhole units
Gibson said the SmartCovers System proposal was set to fund 15 units below manhole covers in Tijuana.
They would monitor flows and activity, deviations from normal patterns within a sewer line, sudden blockages and backups through satellite with a lifespan of up to three to five-years.
They would be under the exclusive control of Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana (CESPT), the State Commission of Public Services of Tijuana.
We are not trying to spy on their system or criticize their management of it.”
-Dave Gibson.
“The basic function of the unit is just to measure the level inside the pipeline,” said Gibson about the ultrasonic level machines. “We’re not trying to spy on their system or criticize their management of it.”
The funding came from Senate Bill 170, which passed the California Legislature in 2021. The legislation allocated “$20 million available to address water quality problems arising in the rivers that come across the border from Mexico.”
Gibson said The State Water Board also sent the Director General of CESPT an email following the approval of SB 170 funds in July 2021 regarding the funding, however no correspondence followed as far as he is aware.
Sewage water spills in Tijuana
The Coronado News in its investigative series found that streams of sewage water flows in Tijuana are found throughout different streets across neighborhoods, or colonias, and that in one area 29 homes share a single water line from a black garden hose.
The problem is due to overflows from manholes, and the sewage water spills can eventually reach the Tijuana River and enter the ocean.
Tijuana residents earlier this year told The Coronado News that repair calls to CESPT to fix the manholes happen frequently.
Cross-border communication
Gibson said the EPA invited members of The State Water Board to attend coordination meetings with IBWC, its México counterpart CILA (Comisión Internacional De Límites Y Aguas Entre México Y Estados Unidos), and CESPT in November 2022.
However, CESPT representatives attended remotely on the phone. And while CILA expressed interest in the manhole technology, a follow-up presentation at a December meeting with materials in Spanish went nowhere because CESPT management didn’t attend, added Gibson.
“We relied on the IBWC… and US EPA precisely because they have routine communications across the border and know the norms and culture and procedures to make sure that the right people receive the right information,” said Gibson.
Future implementation?
According to CESPT Director Víctor Daniel Amador Barragán, the agency held communication with U.S. entities at the end of last year and CESPT directors met with members of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, wherein the possibility of managing resources to use SmartCover Systems technology units was raised.
“It was not intended as a donation to the agency [CESPT],” wrote Barragan in a statement to The Coronado News. “Neither the resources nor the results of the monitoring would be owned by CESPT.”
Although project implementation was not achieved, Barragan considers it is important to point out that CESPT is carrying out efforts to resolve the issue of transboundary sewage flows by making improvements to the Tijuana River Basin.
“At present, some of the works are already in progress, and we continue to negotiate financing with state and federal government authorities [in México], as well as with authorities in the United States,” added Barragan. “These works represent a comprehensive sanitation infrastructure solution for the Tijuana – San Diego region.”
Regarding the potential for future project adoption, Gibson remains optimistic.
“If the projects awarded funding do not expend all the allocated funds, there may be another opportunity to support Smart Covers Systems or a similar device in Tijuana,” Gibson said. “But there are no guarantees.”
