New promises, old deal: Trump EPA reaffirms Biden-era goals for sewage crisis

Last week Mexico and the U.S. reached an agreement committing both nations to expedite and solidify funding for projects meant to curb the Tijuana River sewage crisis.

San Diego leaders and advocates have largely welcomed the renewed commitment touted by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as a “massive environmental and national security win.”

For decades the region has grown at a rate that has far outpaced the building of adequate wastewater infrastructure.

And if both countries keep their promises, the Tijuana and San Diego communities could see significant progress in confronting a problem that has long plagued them – billions of gallons of untreated wastewater flowing through the Tijuana River watershed past neighborhoods, and into the Pacific Ocean.

The projects on the agenda, however, are nothing new. In 2022 both countries agreed to accomplish many of these infrastructure projects by 2027.

But over the last few years some of those timelines stretched, making those deadlines seem out of reach. The International Boundary and Water Commission, the U.S. federal entity in charge of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, said last year that the design and build out of their improvements could take five more years.

Last week’s “memorandum of understanding” reaffirmed goals and the 2027 deadlines set under the Biden administration. However, they may face challenges, including funding and logistics needed to complete the projects.

While leaders and advocates are celebrating the efforts from both governments to accomplish goals, they also say more can be done and it remains unclear what recourse there will be if either party fails to meet the timelines.

What stakeholders are watching:

What’s new-ish

The 2022 agreement laid out a framework for projects to build wastewater infrastructure on both sides of the border. But not all of the funds needed to accomplish the projects have been secured.

In the new agreement, both countries say they intend to secure that funding and commit to accomplishing a selection of planned projects by 2027. That will primarily be a challenge for Mexico which still has to seek and allocate tens of millions of dollars.

Under Biden, the U.S. allocated much of the needed funds to repair and augment its own plant. Now, the federal government has committed to expanding the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant from 25 to 50 million gallons per day by 2027.

Authorities say they plan to have the plant processing 35 million gallons a day by next month. That would mean a sizeable increase of capacity to deal with cross-border sewage in the next few weeks, before the rainy season, when overflows are more likely.

That is a goal local advocates such as San Diego Coastkeeper’s executive director Phillip Musegaas are watching closely.

“To me, that’s sort of a test of whether the deeds match the words,” Musegaas said.

Mexico also committed to accomplishing a project that would send treated wastewater from two of its plants upstream of the Rodriguez Dam. As of now the plants emit the effluent, the treated wastewater, into the Tijuana River, causing the seasonal river to run year round. That effluent then collects pollutants along the way and eventually impacts South Bay communities.

Last year a team of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered the river, churning with polluted water, was also contaminating the air. They traced concerning levels of hydrogen sulfide emanating from certain points along the river, made worse by a constant stream of wastewater.

That’s one reason San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre is paying particular attention to the reaffirmation of plans to direct the effluent away from the river.

“[That] will decrease the hydrogen sulfide gasses, the chemicals and the pathogens that we’re all breathing in, not to mention the impacts to the coastal waters and our beach closures.”

The two nations also committed to creating an updated list of specific projects by the end of the year which will set up new goals for managing the Tijuana River Watershed.

What locals say is missing

The agreement does not state what will happen if timelines shift once more, and that’s a concern shared by advocates on both sides of the border. Though hopeful, some leaders say the projects will need more than renewed promises to reach completion. 

Margarita Diaz, the director of the Tijuana-based coastal advocacy group Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental, says that it will take more than securing the funds to get the projects accomplished. She says the logistics and expertise alone will prove to be a challenge, especially within such a short time frame.

“There are a lot of layers that they have to overcome to get those agreements or those projects to a happy ending,” Diaz said.

“What happens if Mexico doesn’t comply?”

The agreement does not provide that answer.

“All of these efforts are great,” Aguirre said. “At the end of the day, if they don’t produce results immediately and when we need them … then it’s just that, efforts.”

Aguirre, who celebrates any federal efforts and attention on the sewage crisis, also says that these commitments have already been stated previously and that more could be done, and faster. She says that the way to ultimately solve the problem is to divert the river entirely and treat it. It’s a project that exists in the 2022 agreement, but was not reaffirmed last week.

“If Trump were to say tomorrow ‘we’re going to waive all these laws, we’re going to divert the river,” Aguirre said, “that would be guaranteed relief for our families in South County.”

“And that could be done probably in a year if there really was political will and investment from our government.”