SAN DIEGO ( Border Report ) — Federal, state and local leaders attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon marking the start of a reconstruction project for the International Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Tijuana River Valley.
The facility is managed by the International Boundary and Water Commission under an agreement between Mexico and the U.S.
Originally, the plant built in 1997, was supposed to treat up to 25 million gallons of sewage-tainted water coming from Mexico on a daily basis.
Since the plant’s construction, the city of Tijuana has grown rapidly without the necessary sewage infrastructure to keep up with the added population.
Consequently, the treatment plant has not kept pace, which resulted in constant breakdowns until it became outdated in recent years.
“The plant had not been maintained and it’s actually not treating 25 million gallons a day but treating no gallons a day,” U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, D-California said. “I call this crisis one of the most serious environmental disasters in the Western Hemisphere and one that threatens everything from tourism, surfing, national security, nature to public health.”