MAKE IT BAJAGUA                           

Don't let federal agency repeat its mistake

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.

Despite a federal court order to have a solution in place by Sept. 30, 2008, the commission has spent the past two years undercutting a project that would quickly solve that problem and more.

The Bajagua project is a public-private venture to augment the commission's sewage treatment plant in South Bay, which has never handled enough sewage and or met the cleanliness standard required by law.

Bajagua, in the mill for the past 10 years, would treat more water to the proper standard, recycle as much of it as industries in Mexico will buy, share that revenue with Mexico and, after 20 years, sell it to the U.S. government, including the revenue.

Since Congress directed the commission to pursue Bajagua, it has made remarkable progress with Mexico, without the commission's help and much to the commission's dismay. Had it cooperated, Bajagua could have met the court's 2008 deadline. Even now, with cooperation, it could be up and running in September 2009. Yet as Mexico has become more accommodating, the commission has become more obstinate.

It now objects to Bajagua's benefits to Mexico and potential profits to its private investors. It demands that a plant U.S. taxpayers may eventually fund be built in the United States and controlled by the U.S. commission – a self-serving scenario that has already failed. Capturing and recycling more Tijuana sewage benefits San Diego beaches. Encouraging Mexico's interest in capturing, recycling and selling Tijuana sewage encourages the ultimate solution: fully plumbing Tijuana. And if the plan doesn't work, U.S. taxpayers don't pay a penny.

The commission's latest spanner in the works is preventing Bajagua from soliciting bids to begin the work while coaxing the Senate into endorsing instead an upgrade to its own inadequate plant. The cost of that upgrade is woefully understated, its impact woefully underwhelming and its earliest completion date 2010.

In Senate hearings, Commissioner Carlos Marin argued, oddly, that if new Mexican plants come online as planned, Mexico will have excess sewage treatment capacity. If so, the upgrade would be no more necessary than Bajagua. Even if so, however, Tijuana's increasing need for plumbing means increasing need for sewage treatment capacity.

The House has a chance to block the Senate vote and redirect the commission to Bajagua. It should, fast. In a hearing last week, the court warned the commission to have a solution in place by January or face sanctions – borne by U.S. taxpayers.

Bajagua can treat more sewage sooner, with more benefits to more people. Obviously, it's the better solution.