The California State Water Resources Control Board now has rules for distributing nearly $50 million in state bonds for water quality projects that could help fix pollution in the Tijuana and New Rivers.
Leaders in San Diego and Imperial counties had been making their case for why their regions should receive the full amount of funding that Proposition 4 earmarked to clean up rivers and coastal waters near the California-Mexico border.
Proposition 4, which California voters approved in November 2024, however, did not specify who would get the funding and how much.
On Tuesday, board members unanimously approved a process to decide.
“$50 million can go very quickly, especially between the two border communities that the dollars can go and there's just an incredible amount of need,” said Joaquin Esquivel, the board’s chairperson. “But glad to be able to have these resources. Glad that, you know, the guidelines have been developed.”
According to the guidelines, the water board is to solicit applications between June and August and begin ranking them in the fall. Projects that propose improving water quality and benefiting public health will earn the most points. Those proposing infrastructure fixes and habitat restoration will also be considered.
There are several ways projects can receive extra points, including benefiting a disadvantaged community, having additional sources of funding, having coordinated with a Mexican government agency or being ready to be implemented.
Projects could receive anywhere from $250,000 to $10 million each, though there may be opportunities for a project to be awarded $20 million, a change board members agreed to after debating how high to cap funds.
Two projects likely to compete for top funding: a $25 million project to fix a sewage hot spot in the Tijuana River, where untreated wastewater flows through culverts and airborne pollutants are released. The county has already set aside about $3 million to design it. The other project is for upgrading or expanding a wastewater treatment plant in Calexico. It processes and cleans sewage before discharging it into the New River, which is heavily polluted by agricultural runoff, industrial waste and municipal discharge from Mexicali. Officials said costs range from $10 million to $50 million.
Jonathan Clay, a San Diego County lobbyist, asked board members to consider increasing the $10 million maximum, which would help the county complete its hot spot project.
“It’s a huge issue; we need to move forward,” he told the board. “So, with that in mind, we would just sort of respectfully ask that the board maybe consider looking at that max cap for individual projects.”
Board members debated whether raising the funding cap before looking at all project applicants was fair, given that there is already a high interest in applying for funding.
“Right now, we know of at least 20 projects that could come in for the solicitation,” said Jennifer Toney, who is on staff with the water agency. “There is a great need.”
Board member Sean Maguire said that while he understood the public health concerns around the Tijuana and New rivers, I’m just not familiar with what else is out there.”
They ultimately agreed to give themselves the option to boost funding for a project if they deemed it necessary.
The state agency said funding is expected to be allocated early next year.
Earlier this year, Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego) introduced a bill that proposes to expedite the $10 billion Proposition 4 funds for environmental projects and programs, which include funding to address cross-border river pollution. The Senate is reviewing the proposal.
