Border Sewage Plant Proposal on Right Track

The revival of the idea to build a plant in the United States to treat Mexican sewage should come as a welcome relief.

For too long, San Diegans have deluded themselves with the idea of returning Tijuana’s “renegade” sewage flows to Mexico for treatment.

The return-to-sender idea is one that appeals to a natural sense of equity: In a perfect world, Mexico’s sewage should be treated in Mexico. Mexico would prefer it; so would the United States.

But, right now and for the foreseeable future, that’s not realistic.

Tijuana took a significant step toward the goal of treating its own sewage in 1987 when it opened a sewage treatment plant. That was a major accomplishment given Mexico’s severe economic problems. But the plant, designed as just the first phase of a larger plan, has been overburdened from the beginning. And the country’s economic difficulties remain daunting. So Tijuana--a city where many homes do not even have running water--is probably a long way from an adequate sewage treatment system.

Meanwhile, as Tijuana makes progress in bringing water to more homes--a priority understandably ahead of sewage treatment--the amount of raw sewage flowing into the Tijuana River is increasing. Every day, 8 million to 12 million gallons of raw sewage enter California and flow into wetlands and into the Pacific at Imperial Beach. That is estimated to increase to as much as 40 million to 50 million gallons a day by 1995.

The Tijuana River is essentially an open sewer.

Already, 2 1/2 miles of U. S. beach are quarantined, and have been for six years. Health officials say this quarantine could spread to Coronado or San Diego Bay under certain conditions.

Mosquitoes, which are carriers of encephalitis and malaria, breed in the sewage, as do bacteria and viruses that cause serious intestinal diseases, such as hepatitis. Health officials say this is a serious health threat.

The sewage is damaging a wildlife refuge and the Tijuana River National Estuarine Sanctuary, one of only 18 such federally protected research reserves in the country.

But, in spite of these ongoing problems, the idea of building a plant in the United States to treat this sewage to protect our beaches and health has been politically and diplomatically unworkable.

Congress has not wanted to foot the bill to solve another country’s problem, and the Mexican government, although it could not afford to solve the problem itself, did not want to relinquish control of it.

So plans were made to build a defensive system to route the sewage back to Tijuana.

Some of this has been done. But the idea of building a huge pipe to send back millions of gallons of sewage to a plant that is having trouble handling its current load makes no sense.

What makes better sense is the newest plan for a treatment plant in the United States, being spearheaded by International Boundary and Water Commissioner Narendra Gunaji.

It is estimated that the plant, with an initial capacity of 25 million gallons a day, could be built with realistic contributions from Mexico, the U.S. government and the state. The plant also might mesh well with San Diego’s efforts to upgrade its sewage treatment to meet federal standards.

What’s most promising about this revival of the plan, however, is that the Mexican government appears to be giving it serious consideration, and further talks are planned for this summer.

But there is still considerable skepticism on whether Congress can be persuaded to appropriate upward of $100 million to build the plant.

That reluctance is understandable. But having an open sewer emptying into a national estuary and spoiling beaches in the United States in 1989 is unacceptable. It has become as much a U.S. problem as a Mexican problem.

What’s more, the $192-million overall projected cost of the plant is a relatively small amount in this country. To put it into context: Upgrading San Diego’s sewage treatment to meet federal standards is expected to cost at least $1.5 billion and the half-cent sales tax increase for jails and courts is expected to generate $100 million a year.

But Mexico must also contribute and cooperate. This will be especially important as Tijuana’s population grows.

Neither side has been able to solve this problem alone. But perhaps this time, by working together and setting aside mistrust, a long-term solution to the long-term problem of sewage is possible.