The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) will host a public meeting on Aug. 14.
Laura Wilkinson Sinton, leader of Stop The Sewage, said the public is encouraged to attend the meeting because it is an opportunity for the public to push the board to take a new enforcement approach for issues at the International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IBWC).
“The current and past enforcement has been completely ineffective, and the state’s Water Quality Control Board as a regulatory agency has failed us,” Wilkinson Sinton said. “They must take a new approach. This complacency is unacceptable for Coronado and Imperial Beach sewage pollution impacting our health and causing great harm, closing our beach communities without the accountability the Water Board is charged with enforcing. We demand better. ”
Imperial Beach officials and Stop The Sewage members argue the RWQCB needs to fully exercise its enforcement authority by issuing a substantial, uncompromising and historic Administrative Civil Liability (ACL) against the IBWC for the ongoing violations at the IBWC plant, the Hollister pump station and the ongoing spills at Goat and Smugglers Canyons.
Stop The Sewage said RWQCB should also consider an Administrative Civil Liability or similar enforcement action for the billions of gallons of uncontrolled sewage flowing in the main river channel, which is an egregious violation of existing IBWC treaty minutes with Mexico.
The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. at 2375 Northside Drive, Suite 103, San Diego. Participants can also tune in remotely to view the meeting webcast at either the San Diego Water Board’s YouTube channel or https://video.calepa.ca.gov.
Members of the public who wish to comment or give a presentation on an agenda item must register to participate here: Webinar Registration – Zoom
