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Make it Bajagua
Don't let federal agency repeat its mistake
Union Tribute Editorial
September 24, 2007
A year from now, more Tijuana sewage than ever
will flow into waters along San Diego's beaches. Thank the International
Boundary and Water Commission, a federal agency that has spent
70 years trying and failing to solve the problem. more...
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Sewage proposal endorsed in Mexico
U.S. would pay for Tijuana plant
By Sandra Dibble, Staff Writer
March 20, 2007
TIJUANA – It would be the biggest sewage treatment plant the city has seen, and it
wouldn't cost Mexico a penny.
Won over by the possibility of free sewage treatment and the prospect of a vast supply of
recycled water, high-level Mexican officials are openly endorsing a binational plant
promoted by a San Marcos company. more...
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Tijuana's Toilet
Firm nears deal to reduce local beach sewage
Union Tribute Editorial
February 4, 2007
We needed the rain that fell last week, but it came with a familiar
price: Tons of raw human sewage and other toxic waste were flushed
onto San Diego County's southern beaches from the sprawling shanties
of Tijuana. more...
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Land for Tijuana sewage plant located
By Mike Lee, Staff Writer
February 2, 2007
The San Marcos company responsible for building
a long-delayed sewage treatment plant in Tijuana announced yesterday
that it has secured land for the facility. more...
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Mexico's water chief hints at Bajagua OK
Actual plans needed, says director on tour
By Sandra Dibble, STAFF WRITER
February 22, 2006
TIJUANA - Mexico's top water official said
yesterday that his agency would probably back a controversial
proposal by a San Diego company to build and operate a sewage
treatment plant in Mexico.
"We would need to see the actual plans, but
I believe the position . . . would be in favor of the project,"
Cristóbal Jaime Jácquez, director of Mexico's National Water Commission,
said following a tour of a sewage-pumping facility in Tijuana's
Laureles Canyon. more...
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Agency OKs sewage plant for Mexico
Agreement signed with Bajagua LLC
By Mike Lee and Terry Rodgers, Staff Writer
February 16, 2006
A U.S. border agency announced yesterday that
it has signed an agreement allowing a San Diego County company
to build and operate a sewage treatment plant in Mexico.
The controversial and unusual project, expected
to cost at least half a billion dollars over 20 years, is aimed
at reducing sewage overflows that have fouled beaches in southern
San Diego County since the 1930s. more...
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International water commission signs deal to build treatment plant
Bajagua will construct facility to treat
Tijuana's sewage
By JERAN WITTENSTEIN, The Daily Transcript
February 15, 2006
Efforts to treat Tijuana's unchecked sewage
made a leap forward Wednesday when the commissioner of the United
States International Boundary and Water Commission (US IBWC),
Carlos Marin, signed a contract with Bajagua, LLC.
The announcement follows the approval of Minute
311 in 2004 establishing the framework within the treaty governing
the use of waters along the U.S. Mexican border. The contract
will facilitate negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico to move
forward the Bajagua project, as envisioned when Congress unanimously
passed laws authorizing a public-private partnership to develop
a secondary sewage treatment plant in Mexico. The Tijuana sewage
problem has plagued the south bay area for more than 70 years
and has repeatedly caused beach closures and other negative public
health consequences. more...
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Bajagua Signs Contract with USIBWC
Landmark Agreement Sets in Motion Plans
for Construction of Plant To Treat Tijuana Sewage Flows
February 15, 2006
SAN DIEGO, CA - Efforts to
treat Tijuana's unchecked sewage made a monumental leap forward
today when the Acting Commissioner of the United States International
Boundary and Water Commission (US IBWC), Carlos Marin, signed
a contract with Bajagua, LLC under the terms of Public Laws 106-457
and 108-425.
The announcement follows the approval of Minute
311 in 2004 establishing the framework within the treaty governing
the use of waters along the US Mexican border. The contract will
facilitate negotiations between the United States and Mexico to
move forward the Bajagua project, as envisioned when Congress
unanimously passed laws authorizing a public private partnership
to develop a secondary sewage treatment plant in Mexico. The Tijuana
sewage problem has plagued the south-bay area for more than 70
years and has repeatedly caused beach closures and other negative
public health consequences. more...
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Betting On Bajagua
By Terry Rodgers & Mike Lee
November 13, 2005
Every time surfer Jeff Knox paddles into
the ocean near his Imperial Beach home, he's more worried about
bacteria than sharks....more...
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U.S. considers building sewage plant in Tijuana
By Terry Rodgers, STAFF WRITER
August 14, 2005
The federal government is negotiating with
private investors to build a sewage treatment plant in Tijuana
that would discharge treated wastewater from Mexico through an
outfall in the United States.
Proposed Bajagua plant
The Bajagua Project LLC, headed by San Diego entrepreneur Jim
Simmons and Enrique Landa, an architect born in Mexico, would
involve a 20-year contract to build a $200 million sewer system
that further treats wastewater currently discharged off Imperial
Beach. more...
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Border Sewage Project Approved
By Terry Rodgers
June 10, 2005
Plans by the federal government to expand and
upgrade sewage treatment along the US-Mexico border were approved
yesterday by the California Coastal Commission.
The International Boundary and Water Commission
plans to contract with a private company to build a sewage treatment
plant near Tijuana that would discharge treated, wastewater through
an existing outfall on the US side of the border. more...
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Public-Private Funding
is seen for Sewage Plant
Leslie Wolf Branscomb. The San Diego Union
- Tribune.
March 19, 2005
The US International Boundary and Water Commission
is under a federal court order to begin building a secondary sewage
treatment plant at the border in 2006.
However, the federal government has allotted
the agency only $1 million for 2006, for construction of a plant
that is estimated to cost more than $120 million to build.
read
more..
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Tijuana sewage-treatment plant proposal
gains favor | Bajagua seen as way to fix border problem
Leslie Wolf Branscomb. The San Diego Union
- Tribune.
January 7, 2005
The U.S. International Boundary and Water
Commission, ordered to upgrade the treatment of sewage at the
border, has picked a project known as Bajagua as its "preferred
alternative" for the first time.
It's a victory for the small group of American
and Mexican investors who have spent 10 years and $20 million
trying to persuade authorities that their plan for a public-private
sewage treatment plant in Tijuana -- which would sell reclaimed
water for a profit -- is the best solution. read
more..
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Lawsuit over sewage treatment resolved
Leslie Wolf Branscomb. The San Diego Union
- Tribune.
December 7, 2004
A long-running lawsuit over sewage treatment
at the U.S.-Mexican border has finally been resolved.
A federal judge in San Diego signed an
order yesterday requiring the U.S. International Boundary and
Water Commission to bring its border sewage treatment plant up
to secondary treatment standards within four years. read
more..
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Sewer Project to Get Remedial Help
Leslie Wolf Branscomb. The San Diego Union
- Tribune.
October 13, 2004
Backers of a proposed project to build a sewage
treatment plant at the Mexican border are hoping that a bill recently
passed by the US House of Representatives will open the door to
a speedy resolution.
read
more..
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Congresswoman Susan Davis Praises Passage of Sewage Bill
October 7, 2004
Congresswoman Susan Davis hailed the passage
of legislation that advances the establishment of a wastewater-treatment
facility to address the longtime sewage flowing from Mexico through
the Tijuana Estuary to San Diego. read
more..
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Sticking With It
By Kevin Christensen - The Daily Transcript
June 7, 2004
After spending 10 years and $20 million on the
Bajagua project, Jim Simmons is close to ensuring that almost
every drop of water pouring out of the Tijuana River is clean.
read
more..
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Tijuana Treatment for Sewage Spills
Engineering News Record
March 8, 2004
Building a wastewater treatment plant rarely
calls for international diplomacy, but an agreement between the
US and Mexico sets the stage for a $100 million plant and infrastructure
that could end years of border sewage spills and ease Tijuana's
water shortage. read
more...
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Tijuana Sewage - Obstacle Removed for Major New Plant
February 29, 2004
After years of foot-dragging, the completion
of sewage treatment for the Tijuana River Valley has leaped forward
with the appointment of a new US Commissioner for the agency overseeing
the project.
read more..
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US, Mexico Approve Pact on Sewage
By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
February 26, 2004
Mexican and U.S. water officials have signed
a treaty agreement that will provide for cleaner, secondary treatment
of sewage from Mexico more three years after Congress passed a
bill asking for it. read
more..
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Action Demanded on Second Sewage Plant
By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
August 14, 2003
Years have passed without a long-promised secondary
sewage treatment plant at the border, and people are starting
to get mad.
Some members of Congress are mad enough to demand
progress reports - now. A local group is madder - it wants someone
punished. read
more..
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Congress Could Aid Border Sewage Project
July 26, 2003
San Diego Business Journal
A San Diego company looking to build a sewage
treatment facility in Tijuana got a boost earlier this month from
Congress.
The Bajagua Project, LLC which would treat sewage
washing ashore on US beaches has been held up because an international
treaty on border sewage must first be renegotiated. read
more..
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Private plant would be built in Mexico
By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
February 2, 2002
The U.S. International Boundary and
Water Commission has announced that negotiations have finally
been initiated to alter a treaty between the United States and
Mexico governing the treatment of border sewage. more...
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Border sewage pact revision talks begin
Private plant would be built in Mexico
February 2, 2002
The U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission
has announced that negotiations have finally been initiated to
alter a treaty between the United States and Mexico governing
the treatment of border sewage. more...
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Stop stalling on Bajagua project
By Bill VanDeWeghe
January 24, 2002
For a moment try to imagine giving a federal
agency more than $250 million to handle a sewage problem at the
U.S./Mexican border. Years pass, and the agency spends all the
money. more...
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Support for sewer project reaffirmed
S.D. council endorses
Bajagua plant in Tijuana
By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
January 23, 2002
The San Diego City Council has again
thrown its support behind the Bajagua project to build a sewage
treatment plant in Tijuana to alleviate the problem of sewage
flowing from Mexico into the United States. more...
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City should push best border sewage solution
January 22, 2002
Although you don't hear about it very often,
raw sewage flowing from Tijuana into the United States continues
to be a serious problem. Today, the San Diego City Council has
an opportunity to affirm the best solution to stop, once and for
all, Tijuana sewage from plaguing our side of the border.
more...
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Bajagua - Chamber letter to the President
Written December 11, 2001
The San Diego Regional Chamber of commerce
has a long history working with the people of Mexico and the City
of Tijuana on issues of mutual concern. One such issue that has
become extremely important is the completion of the Bajagua project
- a solution to the raw sewage problem flowing across the international
border into the United States.
click
here to download the pdf
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Baking Up Border Successes
San Diego Metropolitan
Magazine, December 2001
The batter is
ready; let's put these cakes in the oven.
The lesson of
2001 is how abruptly our lives can change, how false some of our
values were, how painful it is to see the pain of others and how
much we truly love our country. We greeted 2001 counting our money;
we ended it counting our blessings.
Early in 2000,
the nation's economy began a slow downward turn led by the near
demise of the dot-coms, then manufacturing began to slide, trade
deficits added up and experts began their warning rituals. The
rather dull presidential campaign gave way to the earth shaking
election-day results - did the right man win? The nation was evenly
split; the court made the final decision. more...
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Frustration spills over in debate on sewage
South Bay residents
are tired of waiting for government to act
November 29, 2001, By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
Fred Threats moved to Nestor in 1974,
and since then he's endured at least two sewage-laden floods and
a long wait for the government to do something about it. more...
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Sludge process reconsidered as sewage solution
Environmentalists warn of litigation
November 25, 2001, By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
There's a new plan
for secondary sewage treatment at the border, but it's going to
sound awfully familiar to anyone who's been watching the issue
for long: activated sludge.
The decision by U.S.
International Boundary and Water Commissioner Carlos M. Ramirez
to seek funding for an activated sludge treatment plant brings
the border sewage controversy to where it was seven years ago,
when the same method of treatment was chosen, then abandoned because
of environmentalists' lawsuits. more...
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Bureaucratic stall
Begin negotiations
on border sewage plant
November 4, 2001
A commission
that builds water and sewage projects on the border is ignoring
the will of Congress by refusing to negotiate with Mexico for
a much-needed sewage and reclaimed water project proposed for
Tijuana. more...
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No money, no talks on sewage plant
November 1, 2001, By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
It's been a year since legislation was
passed calling for the United States and Mexico to negotiate terms
for a new border sewage treatment plant, but no negotiations have
taken place.
This week, border officials got a direct
answer as to why, though it wasn't what anyone wanted to hear:
no money. more...
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Tijuana gets green with park fed recycled water
Ecoparque faces growth questions
July 30, 2001
By H.G. Meyer
The scenery along a
riverbank brings this city's environmental issues vividly home.
The Tijuana River's concrete bed is scattered with trash, including
remnants of past sewage overflows. The hills are carpeted with
houses and factories. And where development has not yet crept,
the land is an arid brown. more...
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Talks begin on building sewage plant in Mexico
January 19, 2001
By Amy Oakes
The federal agency
overseeing the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant
has begun negotiations toward constructing a secondary treatment
facility in Mexico.
Plans to build sewage
treatment ponds on the U.S. side of the border, in the Tijuana
River Valley, were scrapped after a recent bill was passed by
Congress authorizing the secondary plant in Mexico. The legislation
was crafted by Reps. Brian Bilbray and Bob Filner to help advance
a project known as Bajagua, which would create a public-private
partnership for building a for-profit plant in Tijuana. more...
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Sewage plans raising a stink in South Bay
Feds say treatment ponds must be built
The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.; Jun 24, 2000;
Leslie Wolf Branscomb
Federal engineers
are forging ahead with plans to fill 36 acres in the Tijuana River
Valley with open-air sewage treatment ponds, spending millions
of dollars in the process despite the fact that the ponds may
never be built.
Earlier this
month, representatives of the IBWC and EPA held a public meeting
to present the design work done so far for the ponds. The ponds
would be on the site of a former dairy, between the existing International
Wastewater Treatment Plant and a $145 million water reclamation
plant currently being built by the city of San Diego. more...
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Sewage at border still called emergency
Speakers urge S.D. council to continue its declaration
The San Diego Union - Tribune; San
Diego, Calif.; Aug 10, 2000; Leslie Wolf Branscomb;
The legislation, introduced in November by
[Bob Filner] and [Brian Bilbray], calls for the United States'
current border sewage treaty with Mexico to be renegotiated to
allow treatment of Mexican sewage by a privately funded plant
to be built in Mexico. The sewage treatment would be paid for,
at least initially, with federal funds from the United States.
The International Wastewater Treatment Plant
at the border treats sewage to the advanced primary level, a lower
standard than required by the federal Clean Water Act. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency has approved construction of sewage
treatment ponds in the Tijuana River Valley. They would treat
the sewage to cleaner secondary standards before piping it offshore
through an ocean outfall. more...
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LETTERS
OF SUPPORT
| Project
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contact someone regarding this project,
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August 10, 2005
From: The City of San Diego
To: Assembly Member Lon Saldana
Re: Protecting San Diego's Coastal Waters from Bi-national Sewage
Discharges
Click
here to read letter regarding the City's Endorsement
March 6, 2002
From: San Diego Congressional Delegation,
To: President George Bush
RE: Monterey Summit with President Vicente Fox of Mexico
Click
here to read letter regarding the delay of the Bajagua Project
February 27, 2002
From: City of San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy
To: Mr. Carlos Ramirez, Commissioner, International Boundary and
Water Commission
RE: Support of Bajagua Project
Click
here to read Mayor Murphy's support of the Bajagua plan
January 22, 2002
From: San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
To: The Honorable Dick Murphy and Members of San Diego City Council
RE: Southbay Int'l Wastewater Treatment Plant and Approval of
Bajagua Project
Click
here to read about the Chamber's support of the Bajagua project
to the San Diego City Council
December 11, 2001
From: San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
To: President George Bush
RE: Implementation of Public Law 106-457
Click
here to read about the Chamber's letter to President Bush in support
of the Bajagua project
December 7, 2001
From: San Diego Tax Payers Association
To: Mr. Carlos Ramirez, Commissioner, International Boundary and
Water Commission
RE: Implementation of Public Law 106-457
Click
here to read about the SDTPA's letter to Carlos Ramirez in support
of the Bajagua project
November 15, 2001
From: San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
To: Mr. Carlos Ramirez, Commissioner, International Boundary and
Water Commission
RE: Implementation of Public Law 106-457
Click
here to read about the Chamber's unanimous decision to support
the Bajagua project
November 8, 2001
From: Greg Cox, Supervisor First District, S.D. County Board of
Supervisors
To: Mr. Carlos Ramirez, Commissioner, International Boundary and
Water Commission
RE: Implementation of Public Law 106-457
Click
here to read Supervisor Cox's support of the Bajagua plan
November 7, 2001
From: Ralph Inzunza, City of San Diego Councilmember, District
8
To: Mr. Carlos Ramirez, Commissioner, International Boundary and
Water Commission
RE: Implementation of Public Law 106-457
Click
here to read Councilmember Inzunza's support of the Bajagua plan
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