With the smell of sewage in the air, San Diego Representatives Scott Peters, Juan Vargas and Sara Jacobs toured the plant to witness the situation firsthand.
They were joined by other federal and state officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma.
“This has taken too long to get fixed, but thankfully we are on a better path today," Peters said.
Peters said a big reason why the problem is so hard to solve is because of years of neglect.
“Between 2010 and 2020, over 10 years, only $4 million was spent on this plant’s maintenance," he said.
That has changed in a big way over the last few years. Peters pointed out that over the past 18-months, $31 million has been spent on maintenance and repairs to bring the plant into compliance with its clean water permit.
“This is intolerable," Rep. Juan Vargas said.
The treatment plant, and the area around it are in Representative Vargas’ district. Vargas said the problem has gotten so bad this summer because sewage flows — tens of millions of gallons a day — continue to pour into the Tijuana River. He says that usually doesn’t happen during the dry season.
However, Vargas also said serious progress is finally being made, partly because he said Mexico is starting to take the issue seriously.
“They finally have some urgency to it. Now, there’s a whole bunch of pipes that are broken on the Mexican side. Now there, they haven’t been quite as forthcoming, just to be frank," he said.
Now more than $400 million is now being used to repair and expand this plant.
But Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre says it isn’t happening fast enough.
“We are living in a life-or-death situation, and I’m not exaggerating," the mayor said.
Aguirre repeated her call for President Biden and Governor Newsom to declare a state of emergency here, to help speed things along.
“The levels of hydrogen sulfide that we are all being exposed to are hundreds of times above the safety levels for humans... Yes, fixing and expanding the treatment plant will make a dent, but it will not address the primary source of pollution to us which is the Tijuana River itself. That’s why we need a state of emergency," said Aguirre.
But the IB mayor also said she fears, even with the commitment of hundreds of millions of dollars, a true lasting solution to this stinky, hazardous problem may still be years away.
