The ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis has received widespread attention and, in the past few years, many milestones have been reached.
“But today, everyone from elementary school children and Navy Seals are getting sick from having contact with toxic pollution in the Tijuana River and ocean,” said Courtney Baltiyskyy, a leading member of the Tijuana River Coalition.
That’s why, she added, the full impact of the crisis needs to be understood and solutions need to be clear and pushed forward.
A new report commissioned by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and released on Wednesday strives to keep the focus on solutions. It lays out five key ways Mexico and the U.S. can end the crisis.
“What changes today is not the urgency,” said Chris Cate, the Chamber’s president. “It’s the clarity of the path forward. This five-pillar framework gives us a comprehensive binational guide for action.”
Untreated wastewater from Tijuana has for decades made its way over the U.S.-Mexico border by way of the binational river and into the Pacific Ocean. The crux of the problem stems from neglect and underinvestment in treatment infrastructure based in both countries. Mexico’s system has also not kept pace with its rapid population growth.
The 38-page report offers solutions in five key categories: infrastructure, maintenance, accountability, transparency and long-term water management. It includes actions the U.S. and Mexico are already working on, but it also proposes new measures. Here’s a breakdown of those pillars:
Infrastructure
The report suggests a “durable solution” doesn’t just depend on finishing construction projects that expand and upgrade treatment systems in both countries, efforts that have already been underway. It says infrastructure will also need backup systems and long-term funding certainty.
It recommends Mexico also update and release its Gran Visión Tijuana 2020, which is the country’s plan to address border sanitation problems and their impacts on public health, to assess its treatment system deficiencies.
“This pillar emphasizes that unfinished construction or underfunded O&M (operations and maintenance) will perpetuate failures, even after major capital investments,” the report said.
Late last year, the U.S. and Mexico signed Minute 333, a new agreement that lays out mainly construction and cleanup projects both countries have committed to completing by 2028.
Maintenance
The treatment plant north of the border, called the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, has lacked appropriate operations and maintenance, leading to repeated system failures.
A consistent stream of revenue from the federal government for this work will be vital, the report suggests. Historically, operations and maintenance have been severely underfunded, with only $4 million invested between 2010 and 2021, according to the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (IWBC), which manages the South Bay plant.
Under this pillar, the report also suggests establishing a binational maintenance fund to support routine inspections and preventative maintenance, as well as creating a “Binational Technical Committee” that could conduct regular border inspections, identify spills and coordinate real-time responses.
Accountability
To help keep all sides accountable, the report calls for the creation of a binational oversight group. It would involve “high-level leadership meetings,” and it would have the ability to unblock stalled projects, resolve financial hurdles and garner political support where needed.
Transparency
This pillar emphasizes that trust comes from accessible, science-based communications. So, it suggests the need to maintain data collection and hold an annual “State of the River” event to report progress and collect the public’s input.
Long-term water management
The report suggests planning beyond existing systems. It calls for developing large-scale wastewater reuse projects in Mexico to help reduce the volume of flows that end up reaching the Tijuana River.
Doug Linden, a retired engineer from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Maria Elena Giner, the U.S. IBWC’s former commissioner, wrote the report.
“We did, intentionally, engage people that had worked in these areas for decades, had a ton of experience and expertise,” said Emily Young, the Prebys Foundation’s vice president of Advocacy.
The report is the foundation’s latest investment in addressing the sewage crisis. Previously, it helped fund research by San Diego State University that showed pollution affects both the water and the air.
Young said she hopes decision makers will use the report to guide where funding can best make a difference.
“It’s like having the same song sheet to sing from,” said Young. “To really talk about what are the priorities, where can we make the greatest impact, where can public dollars go the furthest and addressing some of these major gaps that have contributed to this ongoing sewage crisis.”
