U.S. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday called on Mexico and the United States to develop a “100% solution” to stop the original sewage flow in Tijuana that pollutes the Tijuana River and leaves neighboring communities near the border dealing with nearby communities due to high odors and beaches at the border.
“The Americans who have been dealing with this for decades are already impatient,” Celding said at a press conference in San Diego. “They want to act, and they are right.”
Zeldin visited the river north of the border and met with Mexican government officials as well as local officials in San Diego County. He said the Trump administration is seeking “the greatest cooperation and extreme urgency to end a crisis that should have ended long ago.”
The Tijuana River has plagued Tijuana’s untreated sewage and industrial waste for decades. The city's growth far exceeds existing sewage treatment plants, with insufficient and broken facilities scattered in the river, polluting water and air from Imperial Beach and other communities near the border.
Zeldin met with Mexican Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena and other Mexican officials for about 90 minutes Monday night, saying Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her administration are “fully committed to addressing the issue.”
Bárcena said in an article Social Media It was a “very productive meeting”.
“We agree to strengthen our joint actions to accelerate these projects to address health in Rio Tijuana for the well-being of our communities,” Balchener said.
Mexico still needs to provide $88 million, Selding said, as the company previously promised in its 2022 agreement. He said U.S. and Mexican officials were soon planning to develop “specific statements from both countries” outlining the actions the Mexican government will take to help address these issues.
“We all need to be on the same page on the 100% solution on the U.S. side, and if all of these things on that list are done, then the crisis is over,” Zeldin said.
He didn't discuss the cost or schedule, but the goal he said should be “to make every project complete as quickly as possible.”
Last week, environmental organization U.S. Rivers ranked second on its annual list of the most endangered rivers in the United States, ranking 9th from last year. The group said it raised the rivers on the list to focus more on chronic pollution problems in waterways and actions that lacked cleanup operations.
Environmental advocates have urged the U.S. government to prioritize and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant north of the border, which has treated Tijuana's sewage and is in disrepair.
Zeldin visited the South Bay Plant, where he met with Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and other officials. With him he was a member of Congress, including Rep. Darrell Isa (R-Vista) and Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano).
Levine said the U.S. government has allocated $653 million to repair and expand South Bay wastewater plants, a number that has increased steadily after the initial start. $300 million promised 2020.
“We have to put these shovels on the ground,” Levine said. “We have to get the South Bay plant up and running as soon as possible and double the capacity.”
Zeldin also said he was meeting with the Navy SEALs, who trained in the area and became ill with contaminated water.
The Department of Defense said in a recent report that Navy SEALs and other service personnel reported about 1,100 cases of exposure to high levels of bacteria while training in and around the ocean near the border.
“This is a problem for decades. Not corrected yet. It's just worse,” said the retired Navy captain and former Navy SEAL who lives in Coronado but did not attend Tuesday's event.
Decades ago, after basic underwater sealing training, the housekeeper got sick and had to take antibiotics to recover. The housekeeper said he heard similar stories from the SEALs and candidates who were trained along the beach in Coronado.
“It’s a national security issue,” Steward said. For naval personnel in the region, “this limits their ability to train properly and it is endangering the lives of them, especially those who receive basic training.”
Others affected include Marines, Coast Guard waiters and Border Patrol agents, he said. The housekeeper said his daughter fell ill due to a bacterial infection while surfing nearby. MRSAresistant to many antibiotics.
“The United States helps improve the situation,” the housekeeper said. “We're all playing roles here. I think that's the only way to solve the problem, too.”
Ramon Cheaperz, director of environmental advocacy for Un Mar de Colores, an Encinitas-based nonprofit, said he would like to see various actions taken on the U.S. border side, including efforts to remove contaminated water cascades and spread harmful water vapor and gas into the air.
The chairman said he believes Zeldin is focused on cooperation between Mexico and the United States.
“In general, I think the general tone is more directed towards Mexican responsibility, although people acknowledge that it will be a collaborative effort between the two sides of the border,” the chairman said.
He said that one topic that has not been discussed but contributed to the issue is that many U.S. companies have set up factories on the Mexican side of the border.
“I haven’t heard about it Maquilados “As well as the Mexican side's factories and industries are responsible,” he said. “The entire border, especially the U.S. and California companies in Tijuana, are polluting the river.”
Matthew Tejada, senior vice president of environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Fund, said U.S. officials’ commitments sound good, but the promises to deliver those promises will be more complex due to budget and staff cuts. He pointed out that Zeldin said he wanted Eliminate 65% Environmental Protection Agency budget.
“For EPA, it's an interesting trick to achieve exactly these results in the process of demolishing the staff and systems they actually need to make these changes internally,” Tejada said.
He said recent actions by the Trump administration, including cutting funds and retreating environmental protection measures, “make it actually harder for the country to have clean air, clean land and clean water.”
