U.S., Mexico Sign Treaty to Build New Sewage Treatment Plant Near Border

The U.S. and Mexico signed a treaty Thursday to build new sewage treatment facilities near the border to stop sewage flows into the Tijuana River that periodically discharge polluted water into the Pacific Ocean, forcing California beaches to close.

As Breitbart News has reported over the years, sewage from Mexico periodically flows into the ocean, thanks to heavy rains and failing infrastructure, forcing the closure of pristine California beaches, including award-winning Coronado beaches.

Now, the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to cut that pollution in half, by committing funding to build new sewage treatment facilities on the Mexican side of the border that will reduce effluent flows by 80%.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported:

A nearly half-billion-dollar investment in new sewage treatment facilities in Tijuana could clean up perpetually polluted beaches in San Diego, U.S. and Mexican officials say.

…

The agreement, called Minute No. 328, calls for doubling the capacity of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in the U.S. and building a new treatment plant in Tijuana.

The combined projects would boost sewage treatment capacity by 43 million gallons per day, according to the EPA. They would also repair or replace deteriorating sewer lines and pump stations in Tijuana to prevent sewage spills.

The Mexican government has committed $144 million to the project, and the U.S. has committed $350 million — $300 million of which was authorized by the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement under President Donald Trump, and $50 million of which was allocated by the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden. The new facilities are to be finished by 2027.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.