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.

"It is our best bet today to stop river and beach pollution in the South Bay," said Mayor Dick Murphy. "The alternatives are politically unworkable."

Three years ago, then-mayor Susan Golding and the City Council unanimously endorsed the project, but since then membership of the council has changed.

This time the endorsement was not unanimous, with the council voting 7-2 at yesterday's meeting. Council members Donna Frye and Toni Atkins were opposed.

Frye cited the concerns of some environmentalists who asked the council to wait until sewage infrastructure projects are completed in Mexico that would improve the situation.

A few speakers said that Mexican citizens had been excluded from the process and knew little about the Bajagua proposal.

"I am not convinced that Bajagua is necessarily the nirvana that it's being touted to be," Frye said.
Frye recalled that similar statements were made about the International Wastewater Treatment Plant at the border and how it was promoted as the solution to stopping Mexican sewage from fouling U.S. beaches.

That that plant, which began operating in 1998, has not solved the problem, however, and sewage continues to run into the Tijuana River and onto the coast just south of Imperial Beach, particularly during winter rains.

"I'm not convinced that what is being said here is factual," Frye said. "I've heard this story before."
But the other members of the council said that it was time to act and that Bajagua was the best project available.

Murphy and the others gave credit for moving the project forward to Councilman Ralph Inzunza Jr., whose 8th district includes the Tijuana River Valley, where sewage from Mexico enters the United States.

Inzunza acknowledged that Bajagua might not be the perfect proposal. "But overall, it's a comprehensive approach," he said. "I believe that we need to take a stand here, so we finally get something done."

The Bajagua project calls for a secondary treatment plant that would treat about 60 million gallons of sewage a day in Tijuana.

That secondary standard would be cleaner than the advanced primary treatment now used at the International Wastewater Treatment Plant on the U.S. side of the border.

Bajagua also proposes to sell reclaimed waste water to Tijuana businesses.

Before the project can proceed, however, the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC, must begin negotiating with Mexico to rewrite sections of a treaty that governs waste-water treatment.

Congress wanted negotiations to begin more than a year ago. San Diego officials said yesterday that they have been assured negotiations will begin this month or next.

The Bajagua project does not need the approval of the city of San Diego to proceed, but the council's endorsement is important, said Bajagua spokesman Craig Benedetto.

The IBWC "insists that there isn't regional support in the city of San Diego for the (Bajagua) proposal," Benedetto said.

(The council's) "endorsement obviously continues to show that we maintain the support of people who know about the project. It demonstrates that even under scrutiny this project stands out above all others."

Before the council meeting, Inzunza said it was important to show that the city supports Bajagua, to bring continuing pressure on the IBWC to commence with negotiations.