California leaders have urged EPA’s new administrator to tackle the situation that has affected public health for decades.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new chief expressed outrage over the Tijuana River sewage pollution that has for decades affected San Diego border communities and generated health hazards, recently causing a record of more than 1,000 consecutive days of beach closures.
“I was just briefed that Mexico is dumping large amounts of raw sewage into the Tijuana River, and it’s now seeping into the U.S.,” said EPA’s Administrator Lee Zeldin in a post on the social media platform X on the afternoon of March 8.
“This is unacceptable. Mexico MUST honor its commitments to control this pollution and sewage!” Zeldin wrote.
A few hours after Zeldin’s post, a transboundary flow of wastewater mixed with heavy stormwater was reported entering the U.S. side starting 1:30 a.m. on March 9, according to the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), the federal agency responsible for implementing boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico.
In a follow-up press release on March 10, USIBWC said that it had several meetings with Mexican officials, and preliminary information showed that “multiple unforeseen construction issues” at a project to replace a wastewater pipe in Tijuana resulted in the accidental flows.
“I have made it very clear to Mexico the importance of avoiding future transboundary flows to the greatest extent possible during this very complicated construction project,” said USIBWC Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner, who was appointed to head the agency in August 2021, in the statement. “We appreciate EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s attention to this issue and will keep him as well as all our stakeholders informed of Mexico’s progress,” the commissioner added.
The agency said the transboundary flows stopped mid-afternoon on March 9.
The ongoing project aims to replace Tijuana’s largest wastewater conveyance pipe, which has been plagued by leaks that have caused pollution flows in the past, according to the USIBWC. The project is funded by the United States, Mexico, and a Mexican bank, and is under construction by the Mexico Ministry of Defense.
By Jane Yang
