Maria-Elena Giner, commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) U.S. Section, says they are taking steps to stop sewage flows from entering the United States from Mexico in the Tijuana River.
A news release sent out Monday by the IBWC says that a stakeholder meeting on June 20 discussed the possibility of additional flows from unknown sources and committed to developing a plan to identify them.
The IBWC says that since the meeting, they have identified a number of steps they will take to address the issues and were implemented in July. Those steps include holding weekly commissioner-level meetings to discuss and coordinate actions, reviewing satellite aerial photography of the Tijuana River, and soliciting services to investigate the flows into the river.
Giner says that data collection for the system has been going on continuously through U.S. Section meters in the Tijuana River, San Antonio de los Buenos, and at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. Officials say the increase in flows to the United States has made it necessary to increase the frequency of reviewing the data and obtaining data from Mexico on a monthly basis.
The IBWC also says that a number of new measures are being implemented, including enhanced action item 4 to assist in identifying sources of flows. The other new actions include requesting data from the Tijuana utility to perform sewage volume calculations on a weekly basis, and biweekly commission meetings at the local level to discuss and coordinate actions, ensure continuity of progress, and identify ongoing work and flows in Tijuana and impact in the U.S.
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