The EPA promised Tijuana River pollution fix in 100 days. Where things stand

Local regulators this week gave the federal government the green light to process more sewage at its plant on the border — thereby helping reduce the amount of toxic pollutants flowing into the Tijuana River estuary.  

While officials say the expansion of the plant is complete, they also say it could be more than a month until the plant will be running at its new capacity. They also say the addition will treat water at lower standards, and that they haven’t tested it and don’t fully know if it will work.

One hundred days ago, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin promised that by today the federal wastewater treatment plant along the Tijuana River would expand to be able to process an additional 10 million gallons of sewage a day. He didn’t, however, say that it would actually be doing it.

The development puts the Trump administration about half way toward fully realizing a project that Zeldin called a success today in an op-ed in the San Diego Union- Tribune.

“The Trump administration was able to complete this massive undertaking in a fraction of the time it was originally slated to take,” Zeldin said.

While the federal government has fallen short of running the plant at its new capacity, many advocates are still applauding the progress, but say they are tracking it closely.

On Wednesday, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board agreed to allow the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant to treat and release 10 million additional gallons a day of wastewater from the Tijuana River into the Pacific Ocean.

But the International Boundary and Water Commission will start by treating only 5 million gallons more a day, and at a lower level of treatment. They say it could take two-to-five more weeks before treating the full amount may be possible, also at lower levels of treatment. And it will be years before they can treat the additional wastewater at the same level of quality.

“That’s all contingent on making sure that we have everything in place,” said Ramon Macias, the IBWC’s principal engineer.

For now the additional gallons will be treated to what authorities call “advanced primary” levels, which essentially means the wastewater will undergo a process of removing solids. It will then be mixed and released together with the remaining 25 million gallons a day the plant already processes.

Water authorities had to get creative in order to allow the federal government to release additional wastewater into the ocean legally, and in time. Officials issued a cease and desist order, allowing the IBWC to breach the current contract. They will consider a new contract when the current one expires next year. 

Phillip Musegaas, the executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, supports the decision and pointed out that processing the additional wastewater could lower turbulent flows in the river which have led to volatile chemicals transferring from the water into the air, impacting local communities.

He also backed calls made by Imperial Beach Mayor Mitch McKay that the federal government publicly publish monthly reports of how the discharges are affecting the ocean.

“This is an opportunity for IBWC to reclaim, or to start to restore, some credibility with the public,” said Musegaas. “They have none right now because of the decades of neglect and the decades of pollution.”

County Supervisor Joel Anderson joined Supervisor Paloma Aguirre in support of the motion as well. Aguirre added the water authorities “should work hand-in-hand with the County to cut red tape” in order to reduce flows in the river that lead to airborne diseases. 

Members of the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club said while they applaud the progress, they are also staying vigilant.

“We intend to hold the agencies accountable,” said Charles Rilli, an organizer with the Sierra Club, “so that every gallon of wastewater that flows into this plant will be fully treated by both advanced primary and secondary treatment so there is no more untreated wastewater being dumped in the Pacific Ocean.”

Rilli added that as solutions arrive, the problems are still growing. 

“Population growth and climate-driven storm events will only add strain to the system,” Rilli said, “so we must invest now in scalable, resilient infrastructure projects that protect the public health and safeguard our environment for decades to come.”

Macias from the IBWC said that although the increased treatment flows may not start immediately, the plant is ready to put the system to the test.