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.

The unusual proposal by Bajagua LLC has generated some opposition north of the border.
But in Mexico, there has been barely any public discussion, even though the plan calls for
building a major facility in eastern Tijuana.

Jaime Jácquez's remarks are the first public reaction by a Mexican official to the Bajagua
project, which was officially approved Feb. 15 when Bajagua signed a contract with the U.S.
section of the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Sewage overflows and urban runoff from Tijuana have long crossed the border – via the
Tijuana River – and polluted South Bay beaches.

A wastewater plant in San Ysidro has failed to treat the toxic effluent so that it meets U.S.
standards by the time it goes out a pipe off Imperial Beach.

Bajagua proposes to build a plant that would further treat the sewage handled by the San
Ysidro facility. The proposal involves a series of treatment ponds at the confluence of the
Alamar and Tijuana rivers.

As envisioned, the water treated by Bajagua eventually would remain in Tijuana and be
available for use in industry and irrigation.

Tijuana imports most of its water from the Colorado River and needs to expand its supply to
avoid future shortages.

U.S. critics of the Bajagua project have complained about the no-bid contracting process and
lack of a finalized site. They've also questioned why the plan still has no cost estimate and
wonder if Bajagua, which has never built anything, can live up to the project's demands.

Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy, who accompanied Jaime Jácquez, said his government
would hold off on its opinion until the project is presented in its final form. Elorduy said he
has asked that the National Water Commission and the Mexican section of the boundary
commission analyze the proposal.

“We want to make sure that this is not something of interest only to certain people, but to the
people of Baja California also,” Elorduy said.

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