The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 committed the U.S. to deliver
1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico on an annual basis, plus
an additional 200,000 acre-feet under surplus conditions. The
treaty is overseen by the International Boundary and Water
Commission.
Colorado River water is delivered to Mexico at Morelos Dam,
located 1.1 miles downstream from where the California-Baja
California land boundary intersects the river. The river’s
natural terminus is the Gulf of California in Mexico, but because
of the dams and diversion facilities throughout the Colorado
River Basin, natural flow rarely reaches the Gulf. Water diverted
at Morelos Dam is primarily used to irrigate Mexicali Valley
farmland, and also supplies the cities of Mexicali, Tecate and
Tijuana.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution
Wednesday that urges the federal government to pressure Mexico
to end the Tijuana River sewage crisis. The resolution, brought
forth by Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond, passed by a vote of
3-1. But it was Desmond who ultimately cast the lone “no” vote
because the amended version officials approved doesn’t go far
enough, he said. … Specifically, the resolution calls on
Congress to pass legislation that would hold Mexico accountable
for failing to prevent sewage from polluting communities in the
county’s southwest region. Some measures suggested include
federal authorization to divert or restrict the Tijuana River
temporarily in south San Diego. It also urges curtailing the
export of potable water to Tijuana or limiting cross-border
activity at U.S. ports of entry during sewage-linked
emergencies that the county declares.
After nearly eight months of delays, malfunctions and
redesigns, the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment
Plant partially came online recently and has begun treating raw
sewage that comes from the city of Tijuana. The facility, built
near the coast about 6 miles south of the border, is still not
operating at full capacity. Mexican officials say they are
still conducting tests and going through the certification
process before the plant can be geared up to treat 18 million
gallons of raw sewage per day — its maximum
capacity. Despite going into partial service, communities
north of the border, where much of that sewage ends up, have
seen little to no relief. Beach closures in Imperial Beach and
the city of Coronado to the north, remain in effect. In
Imperial Beach, beaches have been off limits for more than
three years.
Coronado’s northern beaches are open again after the city’s
entire shoreline closed over Memorial Day weekend as wastewater
from the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis pushed bacteria
into coastal waters. The reopenings came as Mexico completed
work on its two-phase International Collector project. …
Mexico completed the second and final phase of its
International Collector project on May 21. During the two
phases of the construction, excess sewage was pushed into the
Tijuana River, causing beach closures in Coronado in April and
in May. However, Mexico used temporary bypasses to prevent
about 75 million gallons of untreated sewage from entering the
river during phase two, the US International Boundary and Water
Commission (IBWC) said. The International Collector is a
pipeline that carries raw sewage from Tijuana to treatment
plants, and it was aging and prone to leaks. Mexico has now
relined the pipeline.
Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre once served as an
environmental fellow in Sen. Cory Booker’s Washington office.
She leveraged that contact Thursday, as the New Jersey Democrat
and former presidential candidate visited her city to see the
Tijuana River sewage pollution crisis up close and demand more
federal action to address the issue. Booker called the
situation “an environmental justice crisis” and said he will
take “what I saw here back to Washington to help make sure this
community’s fight for clean air and water is heard and
answered.” … Booker’s visit comes the day after a UC San
Diego report found dangerous chemical compounds are present not
only in the water of the Tijuana River and off the coast of
Imperial Beach, but are also aerosolized by ocean spray and
make it into the air.
Coronado’s shoreline closed over Memorial Day weekend as
wastewater from the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis pushed
bacteria into coastal waters. … Agencies in both the US
and Mexico are working to repair the failing infrastructure
that causes the ongoing pollution. Mexico is currently in the
second phase of repairing its International Collector, which
carries Tijuana’s wastewater to treatment plants and is prone
to leaks. It is unclear if the weekend’s closures were related
to the project, although the US International Boundary and
Water Commission said ahead of the project that excess sewage
flow might arise from the project. During the project’s
first phase, Mexico diverted excess sewage into the Tijuana
River, which ultimately caused beach closures in Coronado.
… In the US, the IBWC is working to repair its own
infrastructure, the most notable of which is the South Bay
International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
… To the eye, Imperial Beach, Calif., is an idyllic beach
town, a playground for tourists and Southern California
residents alike at the southern border with Mexico. But lately,
the view has been ruined by the sea breeze, which reeks of
rotten eggs. The surfers who once prepared for big-wave
competitions are gone. So are the tourists who built intricate
sand castles and licked ice cream cones on the pier. Imperial
Beach is now the center of one of the nation’s worst
environmental disasters: Every day, 50 million gallons of
untreated sewage, industrial chemicals and trash flow from
Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County. The
cross-national problem traces back at least a century. But it
has significantly worsened in recent years as the population of
Tijuana has exploded and sewage treatment plants in both
countries have fallen into disrepair.
The Environmental Protection Agency and International Boundary
and Water Commission on Tuesday announced the fast-track
expansion of the International Wastewater Treatment Plant in
the Tijuana River Valley. The facility has been in a state of
disrepair for years and had been undergoing a remodel to double
its capacity at a cost of more than $600 million, the work was
slated to take several years to complete. But according to the
EPA and the IBWC, the construction will now be done in 100
days, expanding capacity from 25 million gallons to 35 million
per day. “It’s something we’ve been asking for a long
time,” said Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach, the
American city most affected by the sewage and pollution that
comes in from Mexico on a daily basis. The contamination
has forced the city’s beaches to be closed for more than 1,000
consecutive days.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) have
announced the expansion of the South Bay International
Wastewater Treatment Plant will be fast-tracked to be completed
in just over 3 months. The work is in an effort to reduce
polluted river flows and aims to address air and water quality
impacts in southern San Diego County. The USIBWC and EPA
announced Tuesday the South Bay International Wastewater
Treatment Plant that is located just north of the U.S.-Mexico
border along the Tijuana River in southern San Diego County
will be expanded from 25 to 35 million gallons per
day. The work will now take place in 100 days for the
project that was initially slated to take two years to
complete, USIBWC said.
Without an end in sight to the pollution and sewage stench in
the Tijuana River Valley, long-time resident and advocate
Gabriel Uribe has decided to move out of the area. He recently
leased an apartment a few miles north of the Valley to get away
from the smell and toxins in the air, which he blames for his
son’s respiratory and other health issues. … He was also
disappointed with last month’s visit from Lee Zeldin, the
Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, saying he felt
Zeldin didn’t really want to help. During his visit the
area on Earth Day, Zeldin said that Mexico must stop the flow
of billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals, adding
that he would present Mexico a to-do list of projects to
resolve the decades-long environmental crisis. However, he
stopped short of specifying how the Trump administration would
hold Mexico accountable if it does not act.
An investment of over 15 billion pesos will be allocated to
address cross-border wastewater flows that have plagued Tijuana
and San Diego for decades. Víctor Daniel Amador Barragán,
Baja California’s Secretary of Water Management, Sanitation,
and Protection, highlighted the news during Governor Marina del
Pilar Ávila Olmeda’s weekly press conference. Amador
Barragán presented updates on Minute 328 of the International
Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) regarding the Binational
Tijuana River Sanitation Agreement. Signed in July 2022, this
agreement represents the largest allocation of resources in 40
years to tackle the environmental issue. According to
official data, the total binational investment amounts to
around $15 billion pesos, with $12.373 billion coming from the
U.S. government and $2.762 billion from the Mexican government.
These funds will be distributed across 17 key projects aimed at
modernizing and expanding sanitation infrastructure.
Mexico recently paid a small portion of the water it owes the
United States under a 1944 international treaty. A total of
56,750 acre-feet of water was paid via “a transfer of ownership
in Amistad Dam” on April 30, Frank Fisher, spokesman for U.S.
Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission told
Border Report on Wednesday. … The additional water
increase brings the U.S. capacity at Amistad Reservoir to
21.95%, that’s up a point from a month ago, according to data
sent Tuesday from Rio Grande Watermaster Georgina Bermea in an
email to shareholders and obtained by Border Report. … With
this water transfer, Mexico has paid over 603,000 acre-feet of
water so far this five-year cycle, according to IBWC data.
However, under the treaty, Mexico owes the United States 1.75
million acre-feet by October, leaving just six months to pay
the remaining 1.14 million acre-feet of water.
The U.S. and Mexico are nearing completion of an agreement that
would address the cross-border sewage crisis that has affected
Southern California’s beaches for years. Authorities from the
Environmental Protection Agency say the proposed deal,
currently under final review, could be implemented as soon as
this summer and would commit both nations to significant
infrastructure improvements. … The statement (by
Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin), made to X,
formerly Twitter, said: “This week, EPA transmitted to Mexico a
proposed ‘100% solution’ that would PERMANENTLY END the
decades-old crisis of raw sewage flowing into the U.S. from
Mexico. Next, technical groups from both nations will be
meeting to work through the details necessary to hopefully
reach an urgent agreement.”
Imperial Beach leaders want the federal government to take
stronger action in the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis by
accelerating its construction projects and pressuring Mexico
with punitive action, if necessary. That pressure could include
limiting border crossings and sales of potable water to Tijuana
during county-declared public health threats. … Imperial
Beach’s resolution asks Congress to expedite the rehabilitation
and expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater
Treatment Plant (SBIWTP), a $600 million project overseen by
the US International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC). It
also suggests the federal government take punitive action
against Mexico, if necessary. It notes that 90 percent of
Tijuana’s imported water comes from the Colorado
River, underscoring the city’s dependence on its 1944
United States-Mexico Water Treaty, and says Mexico has shown
“persistent noncompliance” in the treaty terms, causing the
ongoing wastewater pollution.
Mexican diplomats say climate change has hindered them from
settling a massive water debt to the United States, which is
bringing economic hardship to South Texas farmers. But a former
U.S. federal official on Thursday offered a different
explanation. “One of the issues that we see is that
domestic problems in Mexico are affecting what’s happening in
the United States,” said Maria Elena Giner. “Water is owned by
the (Mexican) government, yet they really don’t have good
control of the reservoirs. The states are becoming much more
active in opposing any water deliveries.” … Giner, who
has followed Mexican politics since the Carlos Salinas de
Gortari administration of 1988-1994, said Mexico has invested
in developing agriculture but not in making water management
more efficient.
Every year, billions of gallons of sewage and toxic industrial
waste flow down the Tijuana River, across the U.S.-Mexico
border, and into the Pacific Ocean. It is a complex,
decades-old, transjurisdictional issue that environmentalists
and governments at the local, state, and federal level have
been grappling with for years. Recently, entities on both sides
of the border have made some progress, but experts agree that
more has to be done to address the international pollution
crisis. But viewers watching Fox News would have scant
understanding of the complexity of this issue, the shared
responsibility for its resolution, or the progress that has
been made in both the U.S. and Mexico. According to Fox and new
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the issue is simple: Mexico is to
blame.
Last week, I sat down with Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lee Zeldin for a roundtable focused on a crisis
that’s poisoned our coastlines for decades: the relentless
dumping of toxic sewage from Mexico into Southern California’s
waters. This wasn’t another meeting about more studies, more
delays, or more bureaucratic finger-pointing. It was about one
thing: action. I told Administrator Zeldin what so many San
Diegans already know: this isn’t just an environmental disaster
— it’s a national security threat. When our Navy SEALs — the
elite warriors of our military — are forced to abandon training
operations due to contaminated waters, we have crossed a line.
When our families can’t enjoy our beaches without the risk of
serious illness, something is fundamentally broken. The good
news? Your voices are being heard. –Written by Jim Desmond, member of the San Diego County
Board of Supervisors.
Each day, the Tijuana River carries millions—and sometimes
billions—of gallons of sewage across the U.S.-Mexico border
into California, where it dumps into the ocean. This wave of
waste frequently overwhelms wastewater treatment plants in both
countries, fueling a public health and environmental crisis in
nearby San Diego communities. The problem has gotten worse in
recent years as budget-strapped infrastructure deteriorates and
climate change fuels increasingly intense storms. Last
week, the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Lee
Zeldin, visited San Diego County to urge a “100 percent
solution” from Mexico and the U.S. for ending the flow of
untreated wastewater. He told reporters that a meeting with
Mexico officials went well but stressed that the U.S. is “all
out of patience.”
Mexico has agreed to send water to the United States and
temporarily channel more water to the country from their shared
rivers, a concession that appeared to defuse a diplomatic
crisis sparked by yearslong shortages that left Mexico behind
on its treaty-bound contribution of water from the borderlands.
… In a social media post, Mr. Trump accused Mexico of
“stealing” water from Texas farmers by not meeting its
obligations under a 1944 treaty that mediates the distribution
of water from three rivers the two countries share: the
Rio Grande, the Colorado and the Tijuana. In an
agreement announced jointly by Mexico and the United States on
Monday, Mexico will immediately transfer some of its water
reserves and will give the country a larger share of the flow
of water from the Rio Grande through October.
Learn the history and challenges facing the West’s most dramatic
and developed river.
The Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Basin introduces the
1,450-mile river that sustains 40 million people and millions of
acres of farmland spanning seven states and parts of northern
Mexico.
The 28-page primer explains how the river’s water is shared and
managed as the Southwest transitions to a hotter and drier
climate.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Water is flowing once again
to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that
was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was
dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially
turning the delta into a desert.
In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent
down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate
native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated
river system. Ultimately, dedicated flows of river water were
brokered under cooperative
efforts by the U.S. and Mexican governments.
For the bulk of her career, Jayne
Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the
management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was
appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the
United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees
myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to
sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado
River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other
rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be
named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and
Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the
commission’s 129-year history.
Nowhere is the domino effect in
Western water policy played out more than on the Colorado River,
and specifically when it involves the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona. We are seeing that play out now
as the three states strive to forge a Drought Contingency Plan.
Yet that plan can’t be finalized until Arizona finds a unifying
voice between its major water players, an effort you can read
more about in the latest in-depth article of Western Water.
Even then, there are some issues to resolve just within
California.
It’s high-stakes time in Arizona. The state that depends on the
Colorado River to help supply its cities and farms — and is
first in line to absorb a shortage — is seeking a unified plan
for water supply management to join its Lower Basin neighbors,
California and Nevada, in a coordinated plan to preserve water
levels in Lake Mead before
they run too low.
If the lake’s elevation falls below 1,075 feet above sea level,
the secretary of the Interior would declare a shortage and
Arizona’s deliveries of Colorado River water would be reduced by
320,000 acre-feet. Arizona says that’s enough to serve about 1
million households in one year.
The Colorado River Delta once spanned nearly 2 million acres and
stretched from the northern tip of the Gulf of California in
Mexico to Southern California’s Salton Sea. Today it’s one-tenth
that size, yet still an important estuary, wildlife habitat and
farming region even though Colorado River flows rarely reach the
sea.
This issue of Western Water examines the ongoing effort
between the United States and Mexico to develop a
new agreement to the 1944 Treaty that will continue the
binational cooperation on constructing Colorado River
infrastructure, storing water in Lake Mead and providing instream
flows for the Colorado River Delta.
As vital as the Colorado River is to the United States and
Mexico, so is the ongoing process by which the two countries
develop unique agreements to better manage the river and balance
future competing needs.
The prospect is challenging. The river is over allocated as urban
areas and farmers seek to stretch every drop of their respective
supplies. Since a historic treaty between the two countries was
signed in 1944, the United States and Mexico have periodically
added a series of arrangements to the treaty called minutes that
aim to strengthen the binational ties while addressing important
water supply, water quality and environmental concerns.
California’s little-known New River has been called one of North
America’s most polluted. A closer look reveals the New River is
full of ironic twists: its pollution has long defied cleanup, yet
even in its degraded condition, the river is important to the
border economies of Mexicali and the Imperial Valley and a
lifeline that helps sustain the fragile Salton Sea ecosystem.
Now, after decades of inertia on its pollution problems, the New
River has emerged as an important test of binational cooperation
on border water issues. These issues were profiled in the 2004
PBS documentary Two Sides of a River.
Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven
Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The
Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
and Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch map, which is
suitable for framing, explains the river’s apportionment, history
and the need to adapt its management for urban growth and
expected climate change impacts.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 committed the U.S. to deliver
1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico on an annual basis, plus
an additional 200,000 acre-feet under surplus conditions. The
treaty is overseen by the International Boundary and Water
Commission.
Colorado River water is delivered to Mexico at Morelos Dam,
located 1.1 miles downstream from where the California-Baja
California land boundary intersects the river between the town of
Los Algodones in northwestern Mexico and Yuma County, Ariz.
The Colorado River Delta is located
at the natural terminus of the Colorado River at the Gulf of
California, just south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The desert
ecosystem was formed by silt flushed downstream from the Colorado
and fresh and brackish water mixing at the Gulf.
The Colorado River Delta once covered 9,650 square miles but has
shrunk to less than 1 percent of its original size due to
human-made water diversions.
This printed issue of Western Water examines how the various
stakeholders have begun working together to meet the planning
challenges for the Colorado River Basin, including agreements
with Mexico, increased use of conservation and water marketing,
and the goal of accomplishing binational environmental
restoration and water-sharing programs.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
This printed issue of Western Water explores some of the major
challenges facing Colorado River stakeholders: preparing for
climate change, forging U.S.-Mexico water supply solutions and
dealing with continued growth in the basins states. Much of the
content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth
panel discussions at the September 2009 Colorado River Symposium.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the Colorado River
Delta, its ecological significance and the lengths to which
international, state and local efforts are targeted and achieving
environmental restoration while recognizing the needs of the
entire river’s many users.
