San Diego leaders are asking President Donald Trump to declare a federal state of emergency in hopes of accelerating an infrastructure project in the U.S. that could bring relief to communities suffering from the cross-border sewage pollution from Tijuana.
“We cannot wait for traditional permitting and review processes while children get sick, businesses suffer, and San Diego’s coast is devastated,” says a letter from April 30 written by regional officials. “Please declare a federal state of emergency now.”
This request was addressed to Trump one week after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin visited San Diego to see the Tijuana River sewage crisis first hand. He participated in a binational meeting with Mexico, toured sewage infrastructure, welcomed local elected officials — including Coronado Mayor John Duncan — for a roundtable discussion and heard from Navy SEALs about how the crisis affects training and operations.
“Mr. Zeldin’s visit marked a key step forward. Now, urgent executive action is needed,” said Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, National City Mayor Ron Morrison and Terra Lawson-Remer, acting chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, in the letter.
The officials asked Trump to expedite expansion of the South Bay International Treatment Plant to reduce wastewater flows coming across the U.S.-Mexico border. The San Diego plant, owned by the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, treats sewage from Tijuana because Mexico has not built infrastructure to handle its wastes. But even that facility cannot handle the volume, so sewage routinely flows into the ocean and pollutes the shoreline at Coronado and Imperial Beach.
“We understand Mexico’s new San Antonio de Los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant is completed and weeks away from coming online,” the letter continues. “This key infrastructure fix will treat 18 million gallons/day of toxic sewage, but the U.S. government must do its part too.”
Mexico’s new treatment plant
The letter says more than 31 billion gallons of raw sewage from Mexico have contaminated local beaches and made local residents sick since 2023.
During his visit, Zeldin said Mexican leaders informed him of completed projects south of the border, including the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant.
After years of being inoperable, the Mexican Army completed the plant’s construction which is now expected to treat 18 million gallons per day before entering the Pacific Ocean about six miles south of Tijuana.
During his visit, Zeldin said he was finalizing a comprehensive list of things that U.S. stakeholders consider necessary to end the crisis.
Zeldin said a statement from the U.S. and Mexico about updated plans to address the cross border crisis would follow a mutual agreement.
An agreement has not been announced by the federal environmental agency, nor has the list of projects.
On April 30, the EPA announced actions the agency has accomplished during the current White House Administration’s first 100 days.
No. 1 on the list said the agency “issued immediate action items for Mexico to permanently end the Tijuana River sewage crisis.”
The agency did not indicate whether that issuance contained the steps Zeldin referred to during his Southern California visit.
Also on that list was a $165,000 award to San Diego Air Pollution Control District for air filters and $1.26M for hydrogen sulfide monitoring to address air quality at the border and concerns with sewage odors along the Tijuana River.
During that week, the district announced thousands of free air purifiers were still available for Imperial Beach, San Ysidro, Otay Mesa households.
“EPA is actively having conversations with Mexican officials to achieve 100% solution to the decades long Tijuana River Sewage Crisis,” wrote the EPA press office in an email on May 1.
