Sludge Watch ==> Mexico grants sewage plant at the border near Tijuana

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

There is another sewage treatment plant that needs to be built...and that is 
the border between Calexico and Mexicali.

The New River is an open ditch of filth that  flows north from Mexicali ... 
full of Mexican sewage that is then topped up with illegal sewage discharges 
from virtually every sewage plant in the Imperial Valley...until it comes to 
an unhappy end discharging into the Salton Sea (Caifornia's largest lake).


Both Mexico and California need to put a stop to this shameful sewer 
pollution of the New River.
............................................

Associated Press
Mexico Grants Border Sewage Plant Permit
Associated Press 08.10.07, 12:28 PM ET





SAN DIEGO - The Mexican government has granted a key permit for a proposed 
$700 million sewage plant in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, the 
company said.

The approval is a victory for Bajagua LLC, which has been widely criticized 
for a no-bid contract with the U.S. government that was suspended in May.

Bajagua is seeking money from U.S. taxpayers to build a plant in Tijuana 
that would treat 59 million gallons of Tijuana's sewage daily and recycle a 
portion of it for industrial use. Critics contend the sewage could be 
treated less expensively with a plant in San Diego.

The privately held company says the proposed plant would stop raw sewage 
from running north over the U.S.-Mexico border into San Diego, where it 
courses toward the Pacific Ocean. Beaches south of San Diego to swimmers and 
surfers 198 days last year due to bacterial contamination.

In a letter dated Aug. 1, Mexico's National Water Commission granted Bajagua 
a 30-year concession to build on undeveloped land in eastern Tijuana.

The International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational agency that 
oversees water issues along the U.S.-Mexico border, is under federal court 
order to ensure that wastewater from Mexican sewage meets U.S. standards by 
Sept. 30, 2008, a deadline Bajagua has acknowledged it can't meet.

In July, some members of San Diego's congressional delegation accused IBWC 
officials of stalling the project since it was approved by Congress in 2000.