California Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week more than $100 million in additional federal funding has been secured for the Tijuana River sewage crisis in San Diego County.
The new funds were included in the 2024 fiscal year appropriations package, signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday, and will help make repairs to the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is treating contaminated wastewater from the Tijuana River.
“The package announced today secures urgently needed federal funding—over $100 million more than last year—to help repair the federal South Bay plant and fix the sewage crisis that San Diego communities have dealt with for far too long,” Gov. Newsom said in a March 21 press release announcing the federal dollars.
The plant also received a $350 million commitment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2023 to upgrade the plant, increasing its treatment capacity, according to a press release at the time by Mr. Newsom.
It additionally received $300 million in 2020 for the same reason, but more upgrades were again needed as “flows and maintenance costs” have increased since the last round of funding, according to officials.
The river that runs through Mexico and the United States has been contaminated due to untreated wastewater from Tijuana since the early 1900s, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission of United States and Mexico, which manages boundary and water issues between the two countries.
