California lawmakers announces Tijuana River project
Lawmakers with the Border and Immigration Affairs Commission of the Baja California State Assembly held a virtual meeting Tuesday with California State Sens. Ben Hueso and Henry Stern.
The legislators spoke with the members of the commission on issues focused on the environment, particularly the situation of the Tijuana-San Diego River basin, which has had pollution issues that affect both sides of the border.
Hueso, a Democrat who represents District 40 and chairs the Select Committee for United States-Mexico Cooperation of the California Senate on the Tijuana-San Diego Basin Management Plan, announced the introduction of a bill that includes $350 million for treatment of sewage and rainwater.
Baja California State Assembly Speaker Luis Moreno Hernández proposed that the Legislature issue a letter of understanding to endorse the proposal.
The intention, Moreno Hernández explained, is that “the rest of the members of the California State Senate know that Senator Ben Hueso’s bill (has received support) of Baja California legislators.”
Hueso, who represents Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City and Imperial County, highlighted that the contamination problem of the Tijuana River is the “longest-standing environmental challenge in the United States. There is no ecosystem or an area that is impacted in this way in other parts of the country.” Hueso said government intervention is required from both the United States and Mexico to solve the problem.
The sewage that enters the United States from Tijuana has reached not only the beaches of Imperial Beach, the closest to the border, but to the shores of Point Loma, in the north of the county, Hueso said.
Hueso said the proposal would create “a system on the U.S. side to treat sewage that could potentially cross the border if the sewage treatment system on the Mexican side is not completed.”
The project would have an initial budget of $300 million in federal funds, as well as an additional $50 million which will be financed by the California government, he said.
Stern said despite the budget cuts that California plans to implement in the next fiscal year, the amount allocated to this project remained intact.
This, Stern added, “indicates the level of seriousness with which the Legislature and the governor are addressing this challenge.”
Lawmakers from both sides of the border discussed other negative impacts of sewage on both sides of the border, such as health problems and damages to fauna and flora.
The ultimate goal is “to reduce water flow, pollution and erosion.”
Members of the Border and Immigration Affairs Commission and the California senators agreed to collaborate to seek funds and improve the health situation in communities on both sides of the border, as well as to protect the environment and clean up the beaches.