Border sewage facility funded

Issues of location and builder remain
By Mike Lee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 19, 2007

Congress last night set aside up to $66 million to improve treatment of sewage from the Tijuana River. But the long-awaited funding didn't settle questions about where the facility that would handle the wastewater should be built and who should build it.


Advertisement Instead, the legislation directs the International Boundary and Water Commission to report back to Congress after analyzing the two leading sewage treatment plans. It allows the commission to choose the best option, and that probably won't happen for at least four months.
The money is the most tangible sign yet that the U.S. government will upgrade its wastewater treatment plant in San Ysidro or pay for a separate plant in Tijuana that has been proposed by Bajagua LLC of San Marcos.

The facility in San Ysidro handles about 25 million gallons of wastewater a day from Tijuana, but it hasn't met U.S. Clean Water Act standards since it started operating in the late 1990s.

One complication is that $66 million would pay for only about two-thirds of the San Ysidro expansion.

Bajagua officials have said their plant would treat at least 59 million gallons of wastewater a day. They would finance the construction costs upfront, but U.S. taxpayers ultimately would pay for the facility and its operation over two decades. The bill is estimated at $600 million.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said for months that expanding the plant in San Ysidro is the surest way to lessen sewage problems in the South Bay. However, the spending bill directs the boundary commission to negotiate with Bajagua while it evaluates the best path.

[b]“The compromise demonstrates that the federal government is committed to cleaning up the Tijuana River and that we will move forward with funding to build a new treatment facility,â€