After years of ramping up the County’s role in treating toxic Tijuana River pollution as a public health crisis, Lawson-Remer and Aguirre are proposing the next major phase of the cleanup: long-term action.

That was the message today from San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre as they unveiled a consequential proposal to transform how the County manages raw sewage crossing the border into our ocean and beaches by designing and building a County sewage treatment system. The Board will vote on the proposal Tuesday, September 1st.

Surrounded by a large crowd of community, business, environmental, health care, and education supporters, the Supervisors again made it abundantly clear the Tijuana River crisis is a public health emergency. 

The County has delivered immediate and medium-term solutions to protect communities, and now Lawson-Remer and Aguirre are proposing the next major step: developing infrastructure we can control here at home and bringing relief to families throughout the County.

“Managing this crisis is not the same as solving it. It’s time for San Diego to take more control of our future,” said Chair Terra Lawson-Remer. “Clean the river, and keep pollution off our beaches.” 

"For 60 years, South Bay residents have endured empty promises while breathing toxic air and living next to closed beaches,” said Chair Pro Tem Aguirre. “I believed when I first began this fight—and I believe even more fiercely today as County Supervisor—that clean air and water are fundamental rights regardless of your zip code. We aren't waiting on bureaucratic red tape or decisions across the border; we are asking to put $5.8 million in local County funds directly to work on U.S. soil. You don't rebuild broken trust with words—you do it by delivering real, immediate relief and long-term solutions for our families." 

Most of the existing infrastructure on both sides of the border is designed to keep sewage out of the Tijuana River — capturing it in Mexico and conveying it to treatment. But those systems do not capture everything, and none of them have the capacity to treat all of the polluted water flowing through the river itself. So when sewage and toxic runoff bypass existing treatment systems and enter the river, they can continue downstream toward San Diego communities and beaches untreated. The County’s new initiative would address that missing piece directly by developing a U.S.-side system to capture and clean polluted river flows themselves.

“Capturing and treating sewage has been done all over the world, and proven technologies exist to remove diverse contaminants from polluted water. Yet it is not one size fits all. The engineering process will find the most appropriate design to address the problem,” said Dr. Natalie Mladenov, Professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at SDSU.

San Diego County would not be starting from scratch. The EPA and other agencies have already studied serious options for capturing and treating polluted Tijuana River flows. The County will build on that work, determine the best project for San Diego, and bring options back to the Board within 18 months so we can choose the solution to advance.

Pollutants from the Tijuana River Valley (TJRV) crisis pose severe health risks, primarily through aerosolized toxic gases like hydrogen sulfide and sewage-derived pathogens in the air and water.

The ongoing sewage crisis in the Tijuana River Valley (TjRV) has cost the local South Diego County economy through plunging property values, lost tourism, and declining business revenues.

"Our coastal businesses are extremely grateful that our cries for action are being met with such a significant commitment of resources today," said Ash Israni, Imperial Beach Business Owner

  BACKGROUND:

• The proposal establishes the County’s Tijuana River Capture and Cleanup Initiative, a County-led, phased effort intended to build a new treatment system and associated infrastructure on the U.S. side of the border.

• For the first time, the County would pursue infrastructure designed to directly capture and treat polluted Tijuana River flows before they move downstream into San Diego communities and beaches.

• The Initiative is expected to be delivered in three phases on an aggressive timeframe, with phasing and sequencing refined as the project advances. This includes pursuing state of emergency declarations to accelerate permitting processes and pursuing state legislation to provide this project with an accelerated review and permitting process. Advancing infrastructure at this scale will require new dedicated revenue sources and funding partnerships to support future design, construction, and long-term operations. All phases will include robust community engagement. 

• The action also transitions the Board's Ad Hoc Subcommittee on the Tijuana River Sewage Crisis into a standing committee, giving this initiative permanent Board oversight through every phase of delivery.

• The County has already taken significant action to protect communities, including expanded air and water monitoring, distribution of air purifiers, emergency action at the Saturn Boulevard pollution hot spot, and advocacy for long-term infrastructure solutions.

• Establishing a local capture and treatment system will finally give our region control over polluted river flows before they reach our communities and coastline, safeguarding public health, the environment, local economies, and the region's long-term future.

• For 60 years, major efforts to address this crisis have focused on stopping pollution at its source in Mexico. Today, we take the next step by advancing a serious plan to construct additional infrastructure here at home.