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 U.S. commissioner for the binational agency overseeing the project.

In 1997, the International Boundary and Water Commission finally completed its sewage plant in the Tijuana River Valley — several years late and millions over budget — to treat the raw sewage flowing out of Tijuana and inundating South Bay beaches and estuaries. Unfortunately, the plant was out of compliance with U.S. standards for discharging treated sewage as soon as it opened. The plant treated 25 million gallons a day to primary levels. According to the EPA, the capacity needed was 59 million gallons a day and the federal mandate was secondary level treatment.

After much wrangling over what would be the best way to upgrade the plant, Congress in 2000 passed a law endorsing a proposal for a public-private partnership to pipe the effluent into Tijuana and treat it to reclaimed water standards — tertiary level — and then use it for industrial purposes at maquiladoras. Whether the expanded treatment facility was in the U.S. part of the river valley or in Mexico, U.S. taxpayers would pay for it.

But after Congress passed the legislation, the IBWC refused to implement it. For years, it looked like nothing would be accomplished. Then, last fall, the commissioner who was responsible for the foot-dragging left the agency. A new commissioner, Arturo Duran, was sworn in on Feb. 18, and a week later the United States and Mexico signed a treaty to move forward with the project.

That’s very good news for San Diego County. It means that the problem of Mexican sewage closing U.S. beaches and inundating the Tijuana River Valley may finally be solved. A private company in San Diego, Bajagua LLC, has the inside track to build and operate the plant in Mexico, and is far along in the planning process. The next step is for Bajagua to outline a course of action to the IBWC and then the IBWC will have a bidding process for a contract to design, build and operate the plant. There don’t appear to be any competitors to Bajagua.

The Mexican government will own the reclaimed water that would be produced by the Bajagua plant. However, Bajagua officials believe they can develop a market for the reclaimed water among nearby industrial users in Tijuana, which has severe water shortage problems. A treaty will have to be signed governing the sale of the reclaimed water, in part because, according to U.S. legislation, some of the proceeds are supposed to be used to defray the cost to taxpayers.

It was extremely frustrating that unexplained bureaucratic intransigence delayed this project for so long. While much work remains to be done, the IBWC now seems to be on track for finally completing it. We commend new IBWC Commissioner Arturo Duran for making quick progress, and we urge him to continue.