Letter signed by entire San Diego House delegation says answers needed to protect public health.

Washington, DC – Today, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) and several members of Congress, including the San Diego County congressional delegation, sent a letter to the Department of State demanding a full account of how the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant (SBIWTP) fell into such a severe state of disrepair.

The plant, which was constructed in 1997 to treat sewage originating from Baja California, Mexico, that discharges into the Pacific Ocean, has not been properly maintained for decades, causing raw sewage to pollute San Diego’s beaches, jeopardizing the health and safety of South Bay residents and U.S. Navy SEAL special forces who train in these waters. 

While the San Diego congressional delegation secured $300 million in 2020 to double the plant’s capacity, members learned in June that it needs hundreds of millions of dollars in additional repairs before it can be expanded, and that the cost of the planned expansion has increased dramatically.

In their letter, the members state, “It remains unclear how the plant fell behind on maintenance since it was previously expanded in 2002. A response to the questions below will help us better understand how the deterioration of a facility crucial to the public health of the people of our region happened.” Those questions include:

• Who is responsible for ensuring the facility’s maintenance?
• When did the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), which manages the plant, become aware of its deteriorated condition?
• Is a contractor partially responsible for the plant’s deterioration?
• What steps is the State Department taking to more quickly pursue the repair, rehabilitation, and expansion of the plant?
• What measures are being taken to ensure the plant does not reach such a deteriorated state in the future?

In addition to Peters, the letter was signed by Representatives Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), David Valadao (CA-21), Ken Calvert (CA-41), Darrell Issa (CA-48), Mike Levin (CA-49), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), and Juan Vargas (CA-52).

Full text of the letter here and below:

Dear Assistant Secretary Nicholas:

We write today to better understand how the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant (SBIWTP) deteriorated to its current dilapidated state.

This critical facility, managed by the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), treats sewage originating from Baja California, Mexico that discharges to the Pacific Ocean and flows upwards onto San Diego’s shores. This contaminated water contains raw sewage, industrial waste, trash, and even toxic chemicals. Over the last 20 years, the population of Baja California has grown by more than 1 million people, yet the capacity at the plant has not increased since it was first constructed in 1997.

The San Diego Congressional delegation secured $300 million within the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to fund projects to address transboundary pollution in the Tijuana River Valley, including the doubling of capacity at SBIWTP from 25 million gallons per day (mgd) to 50 mgd. We’ve also secured additional funding through increased appropriations to the Border Water Infrastructure Program. Additionally, the Government of Mexico has contributed over $50 million towards the construction, operation, and annual maintenance of the treatment plant. However, in June, our offices learned that the treatment plant is in such dire shape that significantly more funding is needed to rehabilitate the plant before the USIBWC can expand it. There are concerns, that without additional funding, these new costs jeopardize the United States’ ability to fulfill its Minute 328 treaty obligations.

In Assistant Secretary Durakoglu’s letter to Rep. Peters dated September 3, 2023, the State Department highlighted the deferred fundamental repairs and excess wastewater flows from Mexico beyond the plant’s capacity as the “main reasons the plant is in poor condition today.” However, it remains unclear how the plant fell behind on maintenance since it was previously expanded in 2002.

A response to the questions below will help us better understand how the deterioration of a facility crucial to the public health of the people of our region happened:

• Who was responsible for ensuring its maintenance?
• When did USIBWC become aware of the deteriorated condition of the plant? Were these conditions reported to the State Department and/or the Office of Management and Budget?
• Is a contractor partially responsible for the plant deterioration?
• If the answer to the previous question is yes, is there currently a claim against the responsible contractor?
• What steps is the State Department taking to more quickly pursue the repair, rehabilitation, and expansion of the plant as described during IBWC’s presentation to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board on September 13, 2023? And what measures are being taken to ensure the plant does not reach such a deteriorated state in the future?
• As outlined in Minute 328, Mexico will bear the cost of flow treated at SBIWTP in excess of the volume of 25 mgd (1,100 lps). Please provide details on the number of violations, fines due, and payment timelines.
• As outlined in Minute 328, Mexico shall pay a share of operation and maintenance of projects. Please provide the compliance status of this provision.

We appreciate your responses and look forward to working together to rehabilitate and expand SBIWTP.

BACKGROUND

Last month, Rep. Peters proposed two amendments to the Fiscal Year 2024 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill (SFOPS) to boost annual construction funding to the IBWC to $100 million. And in August, he led two letters to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and to OMB and the State Department, calling for urgent additional funding to confront this crisis. In July, members of the San Diego congressional delegation requested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assist with directing environmental justice funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to help stop the flow of pollutants and urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to tour the broken plant. Earlier in July, they sent a letter to President Biden and submitted an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 calling on the administration to declare this crisis a federal emergency. In June, Rep. Peters led a letter with other members of the San Diego Congressional delegation to the governor of Baja California urging accountability for the Mexican government’s commitments to build wastewater treatment infrastructure. In previous years, Peters along with colleagues, has secured funding, introduced legislation, called for investigations, and arranged a visit by EPA Administrator Regan in response to the wastewater contamination crisis.