Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday toured wastewater treatment facilities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, marking his first in-person visit to the sites undergoing critical upgrades to reduce rampant sewage polluting Tijuana and south San Diego County communities.
The California leader started his tour at the San Ysidro-based South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which on Tuesday will begin a yearslong effort to repair and expand its capacity, which has long been insufficient for treating Mexico’s sewage. He then traveled to the San Antonio de los Buenos plant in Baja California, which also is being overhauled after at least a decade of dumping millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
Years of negligence and underinvestment in wastewater treatment plants in both countries have resulted in sewage and toxic chemicals pouring over the border, leaving people ill with headaches, nausea, respiratory issues and other symptoms. Pollution has also affected wildlife, closed shorelines and hurt local economies.
“The Tijuana River sewage crisis has impacted our communities for far too long,” Newsom said in a statement released after the tour. “Thanks to our partnership with international, federal, and local partners, we are making real progress. But our work is far from over – we need serious, continued action to protect public health and restore our environment.”
San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas, Maria-Elena Giner, Commissioner of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Ann Patterson, the Governors Cabinet Secretary, tour the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant on Oct. 28. (Office of Chairwoman Nora Vargas | County Supervisor, First District)
Newsom made no public mention of declaring a state of emergency. Many local elected officials repeatedly have called on his administration and President Joe Biden to issue a declaration and unlock more funding and resources without government red tape. The Governor’s Office has repeatedly made the case that the issue is a federal one as the U.S. government owns the South Bay plant. But the federal government has asserted that the issue does not qualify for such a declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Still, both administrations have said they are working with a sense of emergency in their efforts with each other and San Diego County.
Most recently, the state and county worked to enlist the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to survey people about how cross-border pollution has impacted their health and the immediate help they may need.
The county also is purchasing and distributing nearly $3 million worth of air purifiers for affected residents, which the California Air Resources Board will reimburse.
Earlier this year, Congress approved $156 million for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission to use for construction projects along the border, including the South Bay plant it owns and manages. The move was critical for a federal agency that had only invested $4 million from 2010 to 2020 into the dilapidated plant with at least $150 million in deferred maintenance. Additionally, Congress granted the IBWC authority to accept funding from non-federal entities and other government agencies, including local and state.
Newsom’s visit came at the request of county Chairperson Nora Vargas, whose District 1 includes the impacted communities, a spokesperson with Varga’s office said Monday.
“Pollution in the Tijuana River Valley is the number one environmental health crisis impacting our region, and Governor Newsom coming to San Diego for today’s briefing shows his steadfast commitment to our communities,” Vargas said in a statement after joining IBWC officials in briefing the governor on the status of the South Bay plant.
Six miles south of the border, Newsom joined Baja California Gov. Marina del Pila Ávila for a tour of the $33 million San Antonio de los Buenos plant.
Baja California officials said Monday that the construction and rehabilitation project, which broke ground in January under the previous federal administration and is overseen by the Mexican military, is 92 percent complete. The plant will have the capacity to treat and reuse up to 18 million gallons of wastewater per day, officials added. It is expected to come online by the end of the year.
“Today we are two countries, two states, working together for the well-being of our people and our environment, Ávila said on social media, sharing photos of her counterparts visit.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also toured the construction site Saturday during her first visit to Tijuana since she took office on Oct. 1. Newsom attended Sheinbaum’s inauguration in Mexico City, where he discussed the cross-border pollution crisis with Mexican officials. Ávila recognized Sheinbaums support to resolve a long-standing binational issue.
Also on Monday, county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer announced that she would invest $150,000 from her office’s county grant monies to purchase a mobile air monitoring vehicle. The device will go to the San Diego Air Pollution Control District, which has not had sufficient resources to measure hydrogen sulfide levels outside of fixed sensors in San Ysidro. In September, the district had to borrow an air monitoring vehicle from the South Coast AQMD to gather data in the Tijuana River Valley.
Last week, San Diego’s Congressional delegation asked the U.S. Small Business Administration to explore how it can assist struggling businesses that have been affected by the sewage crisis, particularly after consecutive beach closures from the border to parts of Coronado.