SAN DIEGO — Gov. Gavin Newsom joined San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas on Monday to discuss the ongoing Tijuana River Valley pollution crisis.
The governor attended a briefing that also included an update on the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, a facility which has been blamed partially by county leaders for the sewage outflow at the border.
"Pollution in the Tijuana River Valley is the number one environmental health crisis impacting our region, and Governor Newsom coming to San Diego for today's briefing shows his steadfast commitment to our communities," Vargas said in a statement. "I have said time and again that the only way we will solve this crisis is by working together. Our collaboration with Governor Newsom, as well as our federal partners, is critically important.
"We're working to put forward our best collective efforts to restore and protect our region."
Untreated wastewater from Mexico's Tijuana River crosses the border into the United States and washes out to sea just south of Imperial Beach. The bacterial buildup from the raw sewage in the wastewater has necessitated the closure of South Bay beaches almost without interruption for three years.
The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant has had major issues in recent years, local leaders say, and needs more than $150 million in repairs before expansion can be started to treat the pollution.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to pursue legal action against corporations the plaintiffs claim are responsible for the sewage pollution crisis.
According to a statement from Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer's office, county legal counsel every 90 days "must present the Board of Supervisors updates and available opportunities to pursue lawsuits against any potentially responsible parties for damages caused to the Tijuana River Valley, Estuary and Marine Preserve, and the surrounding neighborhoods."
Earlier in the month, Lawson-Remer joined a group of residents from Imperial Beach suing Veolia Water Operating Services and Veolia Water North America-West -- entities who operate the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant.
"The Tijuana River sewage crisis is a critical regional issue and an environmental crisis for our entire county. The coastal communities I represent are heavily impacted," said Lawson-Remer while speaking with the plaintiffs.
The move is not without precedent, as the county successfully sued opioid manufacturers to the tune of more than $100 million, and is in the process of suing a ghost gun company.
Veolia, a French company, was also involved in the Flint, Michigan water crisis and has been in litigation for other public health crises in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Colombia.
In a statement, Veolia described the allegations as "meritless," and said the majority of sewage and associated odors and pollution come from Tijuana and do not enter the wastewater treatment plant.
During public comment on Tuesday, a Veolia official told the board it was unfair to blame his company for the sewage crisis.
"No one can properly operate a wastewater treatment plant when the flood breaks pumps, breaks equipment, fills up the tanks," said Adam Lisberg, a senior vice president for external communications. "Attacking our company is a distraction from the real root causes that we've all heard about here."
The San Diego City Council recently approved a resolution asking for a national emergency regarding the sewage outflow at the border. The council had approved 31 years of consecutive extensions of a local state of emergency on the situation.
The council first declared a state of emergency because of the pollution -- ranging from raw sewage to industrial runoff -- in 1993. Imperial Beach put out a similar declaration in 2017, followed by the county in 2023.
Since October 2018, the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission has catalogued more than 200 billion gallons of toxic waste coming into the United States through the Tijuana River Valley.
According to a city document, the commission has spent just $4 million of $40 million allocated for infrastructure maintenance at the plant.