Cleaning Up the Border

President Bush’s decision to spend an additional $100 million for environmental cleanup along the U.S.-Mexico border is to be applauded, even if political and diplomatic reasons rather than ecological concerns are behind it. The money is especially important for San Diego because, according to The Times’ Washington bureau, $80 million is earmarked for construction of a badly needed sewage treatment plant for that city and neighboring Tijuana.

For almost half a century San Diego officials have been complaining to Washington about pollution in the Tijuana River, which meets the Pacific Ocean on the U.S. side of the border. In recent years the volume of untreated sewage flowing across the border has reached 10 million to 12 million gallons per day. Tijuana opened its own sewage treatment plant in 1987, an almost heroic effort given the severe budget problems in Mexico at the time. But the plant’s capacity was overwhelmed by Tijuana’s rapid growth. Mexico has committed $41 million to building a $190-million sewage plant that would serve both cities, so Bush’s $80 million will help a lot.

But the many health and contamination problems posed by the Tijuana River are probably not the main reasons for Bush’s generosity. The sewage plant money is part of a larger package of environmental goodies California will be getting in the next few months. Clearly White House political operatives have realized how important environmental issues are in this powerful state in a presidential election year.

Additionally, environmental activists have been focusing recently on the ecological problems along the border as the controversial U.S.-Mexico free trade pact moves closer to completion. Anything Bush can do now to show that development and growth along the border can coincide with a clean environment helps that process along.

So Bush’s decision is, at least potentially, a winning deal for everyone--but especially for the people of San Diego and Tijuana.