Brady PieperThe federal government is answering California’s call for an additional $250 million federal investment to modernize, repair and expand an aging international sewage and wastewater management facility on the San Diego/Mexico border.
The federal funding will provide the state with the funds needed to fully revitalize and modernize the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego. Now, totaling more than $700 million in federal support, the project will resolve a decades-old problem for residents, natural ecosystems and local economies.
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The sewage facility, designed in the 1990s, was originally projected to handle an average of nearly 25 million gallons of water per day each month. Over decades, growth in local communities on both sides of the border and an influx of manufacturing waste from Tijuana forced the federally-operated plant beyond its sewage treatment capacity, increasing the flow of untreated sewage and wastewater into California’s coastal waters.
Currently, the sewage facility is not up to code nor is it operating to full capacity, despite its necessity to San Diego and other surrounding communities.
Addressing an urgent need, the $250 million in federal funding comes as California beaches reach the 1000-day mark of local closures due to the sewage crisis. Persisting for decades and threatening public and environmental health, this surge of federal support for the plant revitalization project seeks to significantly reduce untreated sewage flows into coastal waters and pollution on local beaches.
Bridging a long-standing financing gap, the federal funding will advance several repair, expansion and maintenance initiatives at the facility, including pump replacements and installation, sedimentation tank cleaning, junction box and temporary influent pipe replacements and mechanical part rehabilitations.
The state will continue to coordinate with public health officials and local authorities to track air quality and protect the local community from the effects of the sewage crisis and revitalization efforts.
California has also coordinated with Mexican authorities to address the root causes of pollution, strategizing methods to repair infrastructure and corroded pipes in Mexico’s share of the river. Construction contracts for these projects were expected to be signed or completed by October.
In addition to federal funding, the state will continue to build upon an over $37 million investment for local cleanup and environmental restoration projects in the region, including $3.3 million for the Tijuana River Valley Habitat and Hydrology Restoration Project, $9 million in funding for improvements to sediment and trash basins in Goat Canyon and $14.25 million to the Smuggler’s Gulch Improvement Project.
Also, through a $2.7 million commitment, residents were provided purifiers to mitigate the health impacts of pollutants from sewage flows.
Complete construction timelines are anticipated to be announced as the South Bay plant project progresses; however, the facility is complying with renewed deadlines under order of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Photo courtesy BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
