U.S.-Mexico Sewage Pact a Breakthrough

A United States-Mexico environmental pact signed in Washington last week is a critical breakthrough in resolving the decades-long spillage of Tijuana sewage onto San Diego-area farms, wetlands and beaches, according to U.S. experts and lawmakers.

“This is a landmark agreement that will finally begin to resolve the problem,” said Narendra N. Gunaji, U.S. commissioner for the International Boundary and Water Commission, an El Paso-based body that mediates border matters between the United States and Mexico.

The accord also underlines the growing cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities in combating border environmental problems, from befouling of the Rio Grande to smelter emissions in the Arizona-Sonora region to the border-wide dumping of toxic wastes. The transborder environmental hazards increasingly have emerged as irritants in U.S.-Mexico relations.

“The pollution is mutually detrimental to both nations, and therefore both nations must work together,” Gunaji said.

The agreement, for the first time, commits both governments to the construction of a San Diego-based facility--costing nearly $200 million--that would treat wastes from Mexico. Despite the agreement, the plant is still far from reality--funding questions remain, and it is not scheduled to be in operation until at least 1993.

Mexico Abandons Plans for Its Own Plant

In signing the accord, experts said, the Mexican government in effect abandoned plans to construct a new treatment plant in fast-growing southeastern Tijuana, a project that many on the U.S. side feared would exacerbate the problem by depositing huge amounts of barely treated sewage into the already polluted Tijuana River, which flows into San Diego. The proposed new plant was to be built on the Rio Alamar, a tributary of the Tijuana River.

U.S. authorities, meantime, agreed to allocate tax dollars exclusively to treat foreign wastes--still a novel concept, although Gunaji noted that Washington, concerned about pollution of the Rio Grande, is picking up half the tab for a $44-million treatment plant planned for Nuevo Laredo, across the river from Laredo, Tex. (A jointly operated treatment plant has been in operation in Nogales, Ariz, for more than 30 years, but that facility handles wastes from both sides of the border.)

In San Diego, lawmakers with little faith in Mexican treatment methods had been lobbying for years to secure a U.S.-based plant to handle Mexican wastes. But, until recently, the efforts had received sparse encouragement from their Mexican counterparts. That has changed considerably during the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who took office last Dec. 1 and has emphasized environmental concerns.

Although the details of the agreement still have to be worked out--and funding for the project remains a question mark--there was relief among supporters of the plan that the Mexican government had finally acceded to the once far-fetched concept of a binational facility.

“It’s a great step forward,” said Eric Yoder, an aide to U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado). “We’re on the brink of a final solution.”

Brian Bilbray, a San Diego County supervisor who has been working on the issue for more than a decade--he once mounted a bulldozer to dramatize his displeasure with the northbound Tijuana sewage flows--recalled that many doubted that Mexico would ever consent to such a plan, or that U.S. officials would agree to fund it. “This was the impossible dream,” Bilbray said. “We just kept the pressure up. . . . Now we know that we’ll have our own technology.”

For years--some say as long as half a century--raw sewage from Tijuana has flowed naturally to the northern side of the border via the Tijuana River and down numerous gullies and arroyos. Many Tijuana residents remain without regular plumbing, allowing wastes to enter rough channels that drain to the north. Meantime, the city’s sewage pipes are subject to regular breakdown, augmenting the foul flow.

Consequently, much of the city’s sewage--up to 10 million gallons a day or more--ends up in the fetid Tijuana River, which drains on the U.S. side. At the mouth of the river on the U.S. side are a slough and a national estuarine sanctuary, one of the few on the West Coast, that attract considerable wildlife, including endangered species. Conservationists fear the impact of the sewage on the delicate ecosystem. Others worry about health hazards for humans: A 2 1/2-mile swath of beach just north of the border has been quarantined for more than six years because of the sewage.

With the agreement signed, the debate about the treatment project will likely shift to the fiscal arena. Both nations are being asked to contribute substantial sums at a time when lawmakers in Mexico City and Washington are tightening their fiscal belts. The exact amounts still are to be determined, but early estimates put the total price tag of the project at $192 million.

The U.S. government likely will be asked to contribute the largest share, about $100 million, of which only $14 million has been appropriated, officials said. Whether lawmakers from non-border states will be anxious to finance a project to treat Mexican sewage remains to be seen.

The State of California also has budgeted $14 million, and is expected to kick in another $1 million. The city of San Diego, which has indicated that it may participate, has budgeted $12 million, with another $24 million needed. If the city reverses its current course and declines to become involved--something that officials say is unlikely--the federal share will increase commensurately. (City authorities want to use the planned outfall system to convey the city’s already-treated waste.)

Mexico, according to preliminary estimates, would be required to contribute $41 million--$21 million for pipeline construction in Tijuana and another $20 million toward the plant. (The $20-million was the same amount that Mexico would have invested for construction of the controversial treatment facility that had been planned for the Rio Alamar.) The binational agreement, however, specifically raises the possibility that a loan program will be worked out allowing Mexico to pay its share of the costs during a 10-year period. Mexico also has reserved the right to reclaim the Tijuana waters treated at the international plant--an important point, given the water shortages that always threaten the semi-desert region.

Built on U.S. Side

Because it will be situated on the U.S. side of the border, the plant will be built with U.S. technology and will meet federal environmental standards for secondary treatment.

The agreement, which was signed Tuesday in Washington, was one of a number of environmental and other pacts hammered out during President Salinas’ visit to the United States. Affixing their names to the four-page document were Fernando Solana Morales, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations, and James Baker III, U. S. secretary of state.

Mexico’s participation in the construction of a treatment plant in U.S. territory, the accord stated, “would be the most suitable option for both countries.”

The precise details are now to be worked out by the two nations’ representatives on the International Boundary and Water Commission. A more definitive plan is expected within 90 days, authorities said. Construction could begin next year. The target date for the opening of the project is 1993.

The centerpiece will be a plant capable of treating up to 25 million gallons of sewage a day. The facility also can be expanded as Tijuana grows, officials said. The plant will be built near the border, but the precise location is to be determined. Also included in the project are extensive pipelines in Tijuana and San Diego and an ocean outfall extending from the coast in San Diego County. The exact configuration is still to be decided.