Bipartisan support for funding to address the pollution of local beaches from Tijuana River sewage outfall continued this month with another delegation’s trip to Washington, D.C.
From April 14-17, the group of more than 170 business and civic leaders from the San Diego region, including Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, advocated for border infrastructure, trade, healthcare, workforce development and environmental protection.
During a press conference in Washington, D.C. on April 15 the President and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Jerry Sanders, said the delegation is following up on an earlier letter asking the Biden administration to take immediate steps to mitigate the impact of the pollution.
“A key priority for this year’s trip is advocating for federal funding for regional infrastructure projects…affecting our border communities and beaches,” said Sanders.
The Coronado News for all of 2023 investigated a nearly century-long legacy of broken promises by U.S. and Mexican officials that have resulted in millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing regularly into the Pacific Ocean.
Bipartisan efforts this year have secured additional funding and continue to help raise awareness about the public health crisis hurting communities year-round.
Advocacy continues
In February, the State Assembly passed a resolution seeking “immediate funding and an emergency declaration to address the growing environmental disaster at the Tijuana River watershed.”
Other government agencies have adopted similar resolutions, including the cities of Imperial Beach and San Diego, the Port of San Diego, the county supervisors and a health council representing local Native American tribes.
“Clean water and clean air are basic quality of life expectations and are needed now in our South Bay,” Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners Chairman Frank Urtasun said in a statement. “With our emergency declaration and continued regional collaboration, the Port of San Diego will continue to push for additional funding to ensure this public health, environmental, and economic crisis is solved.”
Trips to D.C. for awareness and support
In January, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey and Councilmember John Duncan urged federal leaders to prioritize funding to address a sewage crisis that has for years sickened San Diego County beach-goers, closed beaches and damaged local economies.
Duncan later joined the the City of Imperial Beach and Chula Vista in a trip to the White House to continue advocacy for border infrastructure funding to address the ongoing sewage crisis. Last fall, Duncan also participated in the Chamber’s 17th annual Binational Delegation to Mexico City that addressed the transboundary pollution, according to a press release in October.
For years, local officials have worked to bring solutions to the ongoing Tijuana Sewage pollution crisis affecting coastal cities.
Tijuana sewage flows into the Pacific and is carried north to San Diego County’s shoreline by ocean currents. Authorities say there are two primary sources: Effluents in the Tijuana River overwhelm an International Wastewater Treatment Plant during heavy rains; and additional, raw sewage passes through a defunct Mexican treatment facility six miles south of the border.
In March, the U.S. House and Senate approved $156 million in construction funding for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), some of which is expected to pay for sewage infrastructure.
While local leaders consider this additional funding a start, they emphasize the critical need to allocate $310 million to IBWC for repairs and expansion at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In January, Mexico held a groundbreaking ceremony for the redesign and rehabilitation of its nonfunctioning treatment plant at Punta Bandera, where millions of gallons of raw sewage flow into the ocean south of Tijuana. That project is scheduled for completion by this September, according to the commission.
Last month, U.S. commissioner Maria-Elena Giner said Mexico has appropriated $33 million so far for work that already has started under direction of the Mexican army.
For now, Aguirre is cautiously optimistic about a reduction in beach closures next summer if Mexico meets the September deadline.
“We could see our beaches reopen by next summer because that is the sole source of pollution to us during dry weather months, especially during the summer,” said Aguirre.
Meanwhile, Aguirre said she will begin work in the coming weeks to monitor beach-goer illnesses and make interventions to protect public health.
Aguirre said officials at the Centers for Disease Control told her they can’t intervene unless state and local public health agencies request it.
“The next few weeks we will be focusing on working with the county and the state so that we can ensure that what the researchers are finding is addressed,” she added.
