(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden called upon Congress to provide $310 million in emergency funding to expand the treatment of raw sewage from Mexico causing beach closures, stench, poor air quality, and even illness to San Diego residents.
According to academic research from UC San Diego, approximately 34,000 people swimming at San Diego’s Imperial Beach next to the border got sick with just norovirus in 2017, the year of the most recent available study.
“This is undoubtedly the single greatest ongoing environmental disaster in our nation,” said Coronado mayor Richard Bailey, who lobbied to secure an earlier $300 million for sewer treatment in 2021, to The Center Square. “It affects local economics, our US Border Patrol, US Navy, and the environment. We need the federal government to take action to solve it.”
California governor Gavin Newsom also noted the importance of securing immediate federal funding for expanding sewage treatment, stating, “My administration has worked closely with President Biden and his team on this issue, and I want to thank him for including the requested $310 million in the emergency supplemental bill. This funding will help expedite sorely needed construction.”
The funding will go towards the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which can currently treat 25 million gallons per day of wastewater but can be expanded to treat up to 100 million gallons per day. Current flows from Tijuana have grown to 30 million gallons per day, with excess untreated water that flowing right into the ocean
Mexico contributed $16.8 million towards the project’s initial construction costs and pays $2 million towards annual operation and maintenance costs, while the U.S. paid $239.4 million towards initial construction costs. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission of the United States and Mexico, Mexico’s share of the facility’s cost is “that amount that Mexico would have had to pay to construct and maintain a plant” of its own within Mexico.
The new funding is directed at rapidly expanding the facility to handle an additional 25 million gallons per day at a cost of $250 to $300 million. With $300 million secured by Congress in 2021, this new funding is for significant repair and expansion costs that have ballooned to up to $900 million.
