Union-Tribune Editorial

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.

The project is called Bajagua, and Congress unanimously passed a bill last year by Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, and former Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Imperial Beach, which authorized the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to begin negotiations with Mexico to build the project.

The IBWC runs a sewage plant in the Tijuana River Valley to treat raw sewage flowing out of Tijuana into the United States. That sewage flow has been contaminating South Bay beaches for years. But when the commission completed its plant last decade, it was already too small. Plus, cost overruns did not allow the plant to be built to the treatment standards mandated by U.S. law.

That plant has been operating anyway, because some sewage treatment is better than none. State officials mandated that plans to expand and upgrade it move forward quickly. But they haven't.

Originally proposed was a massive project to build an expensive new treatment plant, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, right next to the existing one. Then private investors came up with the Bajagua proposal. It would divert the treated sewage, plus a lot more raw sewage, to a new facility in Tijuana. That system has been recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the preferred alternative for the expanded plant in the Tijuana River Valley, although the IBWC apparently favors a different, much more expensive technology.

Not only could Bajagua eventually treat up to three times as much sewage as the current IBWC plant, it also could provide a huge supply of reclaimed water to Tijuana. What's more, Bajagua would be much cheaper.

However, IBWC bureaucrats refuse to begin negotiations with Mexico to allow Bajagua to begin. At a recent public meeting, IBWC Commissioner Carlos Ramirez said the congressional legislation merely "requested" his agency to begin negotiations.

That, as Filner said, is classic bureaucratic obstruction. Ramirez was requested by Congress to negotiate Bajagua, so he should do it. Money for the United States to contract with Bajagua to treat sewage isn't necessary to begin negotiating the project. Plenty of Mexican officials have signaled an interest in Bajagua.

The IBWC needs to stop obstructing Bajagua. It needs to follow the will of Congress, contact Mexican officials immediately and begin negotiations to allow this innovative, cost-effective project to move forward. Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.