SAN DIEGO ( Border Report ) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is scheduled to visit the Tijuana region on Saturday to tour several government-funded construction projects in the area.
One stop will take place at a wastewater treatment plant 5 miles south of the border that was supposed to be finished last month.
When done, the facility, known as Planta de San Antonio de los Buenos, is expected to treat millions of gallons of sewage-tainted water now flowing into canyons and the ocean.
A lot of this effluent ends up north of the border contaminating the Tijuana River Valley and the Pacific Ocean, forcing the closure of miles of beaches on the U.S. side.
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Mexico’s Defense Secretary, which is in charge of the construction, says the goal is to finish the project by the end of November.
There is fear on both sides of the border the facility won’t be done in time to avoid the rainy season, which begins in December.
This is historically the time of the year when there are large discharges of raw sewage into storm drains throughout the city of Tijuana.