BajaNomad - EPA dedicates $300M to Tijuana sewage problem

EPA dedicates $300M to Tijuana sewage problem

BajaNaranja - 5-13-2020 at 10:51 PM

San Diego Secures $300M to Address Tijuana Sewage Seepage

Local Congressional leaders said Tuesday the full $300 million had been secured for projects in the San Diego region
By Christina Bravo
Published May 12, 2020

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-secures-300...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed dedicating its entire $300 million budget for infrastructure projects along the U.S.-Mexico Border to combat sewage pollution in the Tijuana River Valley.

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was modified in Dec. 2019 to include millions in funds for the Border Water Infrastructure Program (BWIP).

Local Congressional leaders said Tuesday the full $300 million had been secured for projects in the San Diego region.

“It was unclear when we first got USMCA approved how much would be coming to the region," Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at his daily afternoon press briefing. "Today we received word that the entire $300 million will be appropriated to our region.”

The fund will go toward engineering, planning, design, and construction for sewage treatment infrastructure at the border, according to Faulconer. The funding still requires full congressional approval.

"San Diegans have suffered too long from the regular flow of raw sewage into our country from Mexico. With the full $300 million, the EPA can now lead a comprehensive and coordinated effort with the local community to build much-needed wastewater infrastructure for the region," a joint statement read from Reps. Susan Davis, Mike Levin, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris.

An additional $25 million was secured for the EPA’s Border Water Infrastructure Improvement Program.

Rep. Peters said the priority project for this funding is the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is currently operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC).

The Tijuana River Estuary and shorelines from Imperial Beach to Coronado are often closed to the public after spills on the Mexican side of the border cross into the U.S. via the Tijuana River, especially following heavy rainfall.

Polluted runoff likely comes from a Tijuana sewage treatment plant in need of upgrades that could cost up to $370 million, a study by Mexican officials found.

In 2018, local governments in the San Diego area sued the International Boundary and Water Commission's U.S. section over the spills. The suit alleges millions of gallons of waste, including untreated sewage, trash, pesticides and heavy metals have been discharged from the IBWC's treatment facilities in violation of the Clean Water Act.

In their motion to dismiss the lawsuit, government attorneys argued that the IBWC is not responsible for the millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage that flow into the Pacific Ocean from the Tijuana area, claiming the IBWC “has not violated any environmental law, and, in fact, has done nothing to worsen cross-border pollution. Rather, by constructing and operating a treatment plant in San Diego… IBWC has greatly reduced the problem’s scale.”

The government also argued that the IBWC does not have “an open-ended legal obligation to capture and treat all transboundary flows,” and for that and other reasons the lawsuit should be dismissed.

This February, the Government Accountability Office released a report that said the IBWC has not taken the steps necessary to combat the problem and recommended that Congress direct the agency to find solutions to address sewage infrastructure failures.

bajaric - 5-14-2020 at 05:54 AM

The north of border approach is to get everyone on sewer connections, capture all the sewage, treat it, then discharge it into a deep water sewage outfall. Out of sight, out of mind. Treatment processes vary from plant to plant. I saw the IBWC plant when it was first constructed, and they basically dumped the stuff into a pool the size of a postage stamp, doused it with chemicals, and off it went into the ocean in big pipe They may have upgraded somewhat since then. The IBWC is a strange agency, accountable to no one. They actually turned away the local government inspectors, unprecedented for a government agency.

There are no deep water sewage outfalls in Baja. Less sewage is generated, and the relatively small amounts are subject to the cleansing effects of sunlight and oxygen as it trickles through the cattails in hundreds of micro treatment ponds. Not surprisingly, the water quality in the ocean offshore improves dramatically south of the border, at least judging by the fishing; most sportfishers make a bee line due south and get as far away from US waters as they can get.

Now of course the do gooders want to spend $300 million on modern infrastructure and screw up the ocean in Mexico, too. What should be done is to put in a series of retaining ponds, filter out the trash, and let the sun and oxygen do the work. This simple approach was used to cleanse the New River before it drains into the Salton Sea by some farmer with a backhoe, without any high tech expensive tax money, and it worked.

BajaNaranja - 5-14-2020 at 12:44 PM

Check out this footage showing the scale of the sewage spill from Feb / Mar 2017:

https://youtu.be/WEyeCm0GVKg

It doesn't look like there's a detailed plan yet (?), but a "comprehensive and coordinated effort with the local community to build much-needed wastewater infrastructure for the region" is promised by elected leaders...

mtgoat666 - 5-14-2020 at 01:00 PM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaNaranja

Check out this footage showing the scale of the sewage spill from Feb / Mar 2017:

https://youtu.be/WEyeCm0GVKg

It doesn't look like there's a detailed plan yet (?), but a "comprehensive and coordinated effort with the local community to build much-needed wastewater infrastructure for the region" is promised by elected leaders...

I don't dispute that TJ has a sewage problem, I just think the drama of brown water is misleading. Look at any desert river after a rain storm, the water flow is always brown due to sediment... I suspect that the brown coloration is mostly suspended sediment, and not sewage.

BajaNaranja - 5-14-2020 at 01:28 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

I would argue that yes, the brown water shown in that video is misleading -- in that it UNDER represents what the US estimated to be 140-230 million gallons of raw sewage that flowed from TJ to the Pacific over a 17 day period. On the Mexican side, estimate was 30 million gallons.

Do some digging, Goat, google up "Feb 2017 Tijuana sewage" - to make it even easier: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-sewage-mexico-2017...

mtgoat666 - 5-14-2020 at 02:11 PM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaNaranja

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

the existing diversions handle up to 23 mgd, and divert most dry season flow. Typical dry season diversion is around 11 or 12 mgd.
during rain events, flow can get up to 9 billion gallons per day. Post rain storms, the flow will continue for a number of days at flow rate that exceeds diversions.
the pic of brown water flowing into Pacific was almost certainly taken after a large rain storm, and is not representative of the problem...

y'all got first-world complaints about third-world problems,... the USA govt aint going to solve your first-world problems throwing money at TJ river to appease squeeky wheels like Serge Dedina and bunny-rabbit-hugging surfers... large rain storms will still result in poor coastal water quality, just like every other river in so cal when the urban and suburban areas flush to the sea following rain storms...

mexico sewage problems wont be fixed until mexico has funds like usa had to throw at sewage treatment after passage of CWA in 1970s,... don't see it happening in my life time!

not even san diego can afford to treat sewage to secondary standard. san diego pt loma plant is a dinosaur, the only plant in usa that does not meet secondary standards. san diego "claims" the marine life is not harmed by it's dirty discharge :lol:

[Edited on 5-14-2020 by mtgoat666]

BajaNaranja - 5-14-2020 at 03:23 PM

Goat, I'm not sure what you are advocating for there in your last post, but hopefully we can agree that residents of IB & Coronado shouldn't have to deal with human effluent pretty much any time it rains.

And, even if naysayers bray, the truth is that finally folks have been able to inspire the government to action, and they should be applauded for that (Serge Dedina and others).