U.S. and Mexican Border Towns Desperately Seek Aid as Sewage Floods into the Ocean
The sewage crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is not just a problem; it’s a ticking time bomb that poses significant environmental and health challenges. This urgency highlights the need for immediate infrastructure upgrades and international cooperation to safeguard the well-being of affected communities.
Millions of gallons of sewage cascade daily through a canyon and into the Pacific Ocean just south of the U.S.-Mexican border, the Associated Press reported. This toxic flow affects the human population and poses a grave threat to the marine ecosystem. As any surfer in San Diego knows, summer swells from the south will push the toxic brew north. Meanwhile, millions more gallons of treated and untreated sewage trickle down the Tijuana River and into the sea just north of the border. When the wind and currents conspire, the odor of fecal bacteria fouls the otherwise quaint San Diego County town of Imperial Beach, where Mayor Paloma Aguirre calls the discharges “the biggest environmental and public health disaster in the nation that nobody knows of,” she told the AP.
Were it the result of a hurricane or wildfire, rather than decades of neglect, the crisis might warrant a declaration of emergency, freeing recovery funds to address environmental damage, the threat to public health, and the loss of tourism. Instead, beach lovers and politicians agonize over the protracted efforts to upgrade infrastructure on both sides of the border. The International Wastewater Treatment Plant, an overworked and underfunded facility built on the U.S. side of the frontier to treat Mexican sewage, has buckled under an increased volume that has been piped across the border the past two years, but plant managers say it should return to normal operations in August, AP reported.
Strained Infrastructure
The international plant, a crucial part of the solution, belongs to the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), a body governed by U.S.-Mexican treaty agreements. It treats 25 million gallons daily (1,095 liters per second) when functioning correctly. However, Morgan Rogers, area operations manager for the IBWC’s San Diego field office, said the plant has worn down under strain caused by Tijuana infrastructure breakdowns in 2022 and Tropical Storm Hilary a year ago. Sewage treatment is down to 22.7 million gallons per day this year.
“Every gallon we treat here is a gallon that doesn’t go into the ocean, whether in the river or down south in Tijuana,” Rogers told the AP. Rogers led a tour when only one of the plant’s five primary tanks worked correctly, each open-air with nearly an Olympic swimming pool capacity. As he spoke, a giant bubble gurgled to the surface. “Ugh, you can see some flow going through here,” Rogers said. “But we’re making some good progress,” Rogers said. In addition to the $30 million upgrade, the plant is about to undergo a $400 million expansion with federal funds to double capacity. Still, it will need another $200 million to complete the job.
Tijuana Struggles
About 6 miles (10 km) south of the border, a tunnel beneath the coastal highway releases wastewater with the fury of a dam that has opened its spillway. It is the outflow from San Antonio de los Buenos, Tijuana’s broken-down sewage treatment plant. Mexico says a new $33.3 million plant under construction will come online by September 30. The exact amount of raw sewage pouring into the ocean remains in dispute. The IBWC estimates the flow at 35 to 45 million gallons per day. Baja California says the plant is discharging 23 million gallons per day (1,000 liters per second) of sewage minimally treated with chlorine. Mexico’s National Water Commission puts the figure at 27 million gallons per day (1,200 liters per second).
In addition, according to an IBWC river gauge, roughly 50 million gallons per day of sewage-contaminated water flow from the Tijuana River toward Imperial Beach. Around half is raw sewage, with the remainder a mix of treated sewage, groundwater, and potable water from Tijuana’s leaky pipes, Rogers estimated. Kurt Honold, a former mayor of Tijuana and now Baja California’s secretary of economy and innovation, noted the long-term neglect. “We are not just polluting U.S. waters but those of Mexico as well,” he told the AP. “Our kids want to swim on the beaches of Tijuana and Rosarito without getting sick.”
Economic and Health Implications
Immediately north of the U.S.-Mexican border wall that descends into the sea, San Diego County health officials have effectively closed the beach for more than three years straight. This prolonged closure has deprived the local community of a recreational space and significantly impacted the tourism industry. Further north near the Imperial Beach pier, bright yellow signs warning “Keep out of Water” have been posted on and off since 2021, depriving surfers of waves and Imperial Beach of crucial summer tourism revenue. Interviewed on the sun-splashed beach, the Imperial Beach mayor, a bodyboarder herself, said that if the crisis were affecting a white, wealthy town, state and federal officials would have solved it long ago. “We are primarily a working-class community, a brown community. We’re a border community,” said Aguirre, an environmentalist before entering politics.
The dire state of sewage infrastructure in Tijuana also reflects broader issues facing rapidly growing urban areas in Latin America. With Tijuana’s population skyrocketing from 65,000 in 1950 to about 2 million today, the city’s sewage system has struggled to keep pace. Baja California’s Governor Marina del Pilar Avila, elected in 2021, prioritized sewage repairs, recognizing the urgent need for modernization. “We’re sorry,” Honold said. “We’re going to fix it, and we are fixing it,” he told the AP.
An Urgent Need for Action
The ongoing sewage crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border underscores a pressing need for cooperative international efforts to address infrastructure challenges. However, with substantial investments planned and ongoing upgrades to critical facilities, there is hope for resolving this long-standing issue. The potential for positive change is within reach.
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Collaboration between the United States and Mexico is crucial as efforts continue to improve sewage treatment infrastructure in Tijuana and at the International Wastewater Treatment Plant. This collective action will be instrumental in ensuring cleaner waters and healthier communities. The focus must remain on swift action, sustained investment, and a commitment to addressing the root causes of the crisis to prevent future environmental disasters.
