South Bay in ‘Best Place’ in Decades of Sewage Fight As Work Begins on Wastewater Plant

San Diego’s congressional delegation Tuesday marked the beginning of an extensive rehabilitation project at an overburdened border wastewater treatment plant.

The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant has been blamed by county leaders, at least in part, for sewage flows at the border, which have been an issue for decades, but now may be contributing to a public health crisis.

One day after Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the U.S.- Mexico border regarding the pollution issue, representatives Juan Vargas, Scott Peters and Sara Jacobs, all San Diego Democrats, were joined at the plant by officials from the International Boundary and Water Commission.

“From awful sewage smells to closed beaches, toxic sewage pollution has hurt our communities for too long,” Vargas said. “These upgrades to the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant are a critical step forward in the fight to combat this pollution.”

Untreated wastewater from Mexico’s Tijuana River crosses the border into the U.S. and washes out to sea just south of Imperial Beach. The bacterial buildup from the raw sewage in the wastewater has necessitated the closure of South Bay beaches almost without interruption for three years.

A total of $400 million will be used to double the treatment plant’s capacity. If and when Mexico acts on their side of the border, the project could prevent around 90% of the untreated wastewater from reaching the ocean, according to the delegation.

“For years I’ve called the cross-border sewage crisis one of the biggest environmental catastrophes in the Western Hemisphere, but it threatens more than nature, it threatens public health,” Peters said.

Yet the one-time environmental attorney sounded a note of optimism.

“Today, we are in the best place we’ve been in decades to fix this horrible problem,” he said. “We’ve secured hundreds of millions of dollars to rehab and expand this treatment plant, and the highest levels of government in the U.S. and Mexico are more aware than they’ve ever been about how dire and harmful the problem is.”

The long-awaited expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant is underway to double capacity and help reduce cross-border sewage impacting our communities. We're making progress, but we need sustained binational action to protect public health. #ForAllofUs pic.twitter.com/FmJAhTfvvg— San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria (@MayorToddGloria) October 29, 2024

Jacobs noted that the river valley “has flowed with sewage and pollution longer than I’ve been alive,” but added that once the plant project is completed, “the capacity of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant will double, helping to improve our health and safety and keep our businesses and beaches open.”

Action is taking place on a number of fronts, including calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate activities to more quickly address the sewage problem and efforts by the Centers for Disease Control to assess the impact of the pollution.

Legal avenues are being pursued as well. A group of residents from Imperial Beach are suing Veolia Water Operating Services and Veolia Water North America-West, entities that operate the treatment plant. Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to explore possible legal action.

In addition, the San Diego City Council recently approved a resolution asking for a national emergency regarding the sewage outflow at the border.

The council first declared a state of emergency because of the pollution – ranging from raw sewage to industrial runoff – in 1993. Imperial Beach put out a similar declaration in 2017, followed by the county in 2023.

Since October 2018, the U.S. section of the IBWC has catalogued more than 200 billion gallons of toxic waste crossing the border through the Tijuana River Valley.