Clinton OKs Plan to Treat Sewage Flowing From Tijuana

A controversial proposal to treat cross-border sewage from Mexico at a for-profit plant in Tijuana has been signed into law by President Clinton.

Overflow sewage from Tijuana is a long-standing problem on the border, where millions of gallons flow into the U.S. via the Tijuana River or spill into the Pacific Ocean.

“No other members of Congress have raw sewage flowing into their districts from another country,” said Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego), who sponsored the measure with Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Imperial Beach).

The law directs U.S. officials to negotiate with Mexico and the U.S. investors who are proposing a plant able to handle 50 million gallons of sewage a day.

The plant would further clean sewage from Tijuana that is now partially treated at a binational facility on the U.S. side of the border. The effluent from that plant, which handles up to 25 million gallons daily, is pumped into the ocean, but it violates U.S. water standards.

Water treated at the proposed plant would be clean enough to be dumped into the ocean. Promoters hope, though, to sell it for industrial use and some irrigation.

Critics, including city officials in Imperial Beach, said the scheme is untested and might take years to put in place. They favor plans to build ponds for extra treatment next to the joint plant.