The U.S. and Mexico have signed an agreement to address the pollution caused by sewage flowing into the Tijuana river.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the agreement, which includes “infrastructure projects, research, enhanced monitoring, and planning for operation and maintenance of critical sites and systems that will account for future population growth in Tijuana.”
The agency went on to claim that the sewage crisis is a “decades-long issue where untreated raw sewage has flowed into Southern California from Mexico;” resulting in “years-long beach closures, foul odors, degradation of the Tijuana River Valley, and lost economic opportunity, while also sickening people on both sides of the border.” Navy SEALs training in the area have also been impacted, the EPA said.
The announcement was announced less than a week after President Donald Trump urged Mexico to address its “water and sewage problem,” calling it a threat to the United States.
“Mexico must take care of its water and sewage problem, IMMEDIATELY. It is a true Threat to the People of Texas, California, and the United States of America!” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. He included a video claiming that “Mexico continues to send millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage water into the Tijuana river.”
“The often massive releases are linked to operational issues at Tijuana’s primary wastewater treatment facility. It’s created a health hazard for communities like Imperial Beach and Coronado,” the video adds.
The EPA noted that the agreement was “negotiated and signed in record time, “beating the December 31st deadline set in the July Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Secretary of the Environment and National Resources of Mexico Alicia Bárcena Ibarra in Mexico City.”
The release noted that the agreement contemplates several actions, including the “creation of an operations and maintenance (O&M) account at the North America Development Bank,” which would “set aside a portion of any future dollars provided to Mexico to be held for future O&M costs.”
It also includes a six-month deadline for Mexico to develop a “Tijuana water infrastructure master plan within six month,” the creation of a working group to “assess the feasibility of constructing an ocean outfall for the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant,” and the construction of a sediment basin and a wastewater treatment plan.
Originally published on Latin Times
