The Coronado Unified School District is suing the operator of the South Bay International Water Treatment Plant for allegedly allowing raw sewage to be discharged into the waters of southern San Diego County, which the school district alleges has adversely affected the health of its students and staff.
Coronado Unified claims it has had "to expend substantial sums to combat the health issues faced by plaintiff's students and faculty members" due to exposure to toxic pollutants, noxious fumes, odors, and contaminated water. The complaint filed Monday in San Diego Superior Court alleges students and faculty members have required treatment for "headaches, lightheadedness, dizzy spells, asthma, nausea, breathing conditions, stinging eyes, and other related symptoms."
The district is seeking damages to cover medical treatment costs and to pay for medical monitoring.
In a statement, Veolia, which was contracted by the International Boundary and Water Commission to operate, manage and maintain the plant, said the Mexican government is at fault for the years of crossboundary sewage flows.
"The people of south San Diego County are deeply affected by Tijuana's unchecked sewage crossing the border. The plaintiffs in this case would be better served if their lawyers pursued the source of the problem instead of the company trying to solve it," the statement read. "The untreated sewage plaguing San Diego comes directly from Mexico through the Pacific Ocean and the Tijuana River, not the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. The claims in this lawsuit are misplaced, and Veolia's hardworking local employees do not deserve to be blamed for the Mexican government's failures."
Veolia says the South Bay plant treats up to 25 million gallons of sewage flowing from Tijuana daily and will double that capacity in the near future after Congress allocated over $600 million to repair and expand the plant. Prior to the planned expansion, Veolia said a population boom in Tijuana also played a large role in contributing to a volume of transboundary flows the plant wasn't originally designed to handle.
Frantz Law Group, which brought a mass tort case against Veolia, represents Coronado Unified, as well as numerous South Bay residents who say they have been affected by the more than 100 billion gallons of transboundary flows that have been discharged from Mexico into Southern California over the past five years.
James Frantz, of Frantz Law Group, said Coronado Unified has had "a significant number of students falling ill on a daily basis" due to the sewage crisis. Along with health concerns, attorneys said the pollutants have led directly to numerous beach closures, boil water notices and requirements on keeping South Bay schoolchildren indoors in order to prevent exposure to the contaminants.
