Trump’s EPA ramps up pressure on Mexico to stop dumping sewage into U.S. waters

Yellow signs posted since Dec. 8, 2021, have prohibited swimming at San Diego’s Imperial Beach, one of the casualties of Mexico’s decades of dumping billions of gallons of sewage into the Tijuana River.

The sewage gushes into the Pacific Ocean, polluting San Diego beaches, stinking up communities and endangering the health and safety of U.S. Navy Seals who train in the area.

Southern Californians are fed up, and so is the Trump administration. The Environmental Protection Agency is cracking down with renewed force on Mexico’s river pollution and neglect of a wastewater treatment facility overwhelmed by Tijuana’s population surge.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin toured the impacted area this week and said the raw sewage crisis is now “top of mind” for President Trump.

Since 2018, more than 100 billion gallons of raw sewage as well as industrial chemicals, stormwater runoff, tires and other trash have spilled into San Diego County waters.

The problem worsened over the past few years as Tijuana became inundated with new residents and as thousands of migrants headed to the border.

A record amount of sewage flowed from Mexico into San Diego last year.

On Tuesday, Mr. Zeldin met with Mexican officials on the U.S. side of the border and secured commitments to fund and carry out improvement projects. Officials hope the upgrades will enable the wastewater treatment plant to handle the volume of sewage on Mexico’s side of the border and stop the spillage into U.S. waters.

“We have almost no patience,” Mr. Zeldin said. “It’s because the Americans on our side of the border, who have been dealing with this for decades, are out of patience.”

The cross-border sewage flow causes a sickening smell that San Diego residents near the Tijuana River say is causing gastrointestinal and breathing problems.

The sewage-laden river crosses through land owned by the Navy. The pollution has forced the Defense Department to consider canceling or relocating nearly all the water training exercises at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.

“This poses an unacceptable choice between preserving the health of our service members and maintaining essential military readiness — both of which are critical to our national security,” Sen. Tim Sheehy, Montana Republican, wrote to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum last week. He demanded that Mexico take action to remediate and expand its water treatment facility.

Mr. Sheehy said the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement authorized $300 million to rectify the sewage problem. Engineers determined that the treatment plant needed extensive remediation before it could be expanded. Mexico has yet to make those repairs.

Mr. Zeldin said he is devising a list of steps Mexico must take immediately to end the environmental crisis.

After his Tuesday meeting, Mr. Zeldin said Mexican officials were eager to stop the sewage leak, which is also polluting Mexican beaches.

“What is being communicated by the new Mexican president is an intense desire to fully resolve this situation,” Mr. Zeldin said.

San Diego Democrats who appeared with Mr. Zeldin on Tuesday said the Trump administration’s aggressive actions to address the Mexican sewage problem have given them optimism after years of frustration.

“We have a lot of hope at the moment that things will get done,” said Rep. Juan Vargas, California Democrat.

Mr. Zeldin said the roundtable discussion with Mexican officials included a proposal to use chemical remediation to remove bacteria from the water. Another plan would divert 10 million gallons per day of wastewater from the Tijuana River Valley to an area dam to help relieve stress on the aging sewage treatment plant. Another proposal involves building a longer outflow pipe to carry the wastewater farther into the ocean.

Mexico must provide $88 million to finish funding wastewater infrastructure projects, including a new treatment plant. The plant was part of a 2022 agreement with the U.S. to reduce the sewage flow into San Diego.

Mr. Zeldin said he would give Mexico a to-do list to guarantee the problem would be solved. He wouldn’t say whether Mr. Trump would try to impose penalties on Mexico, such as new tariffs, if the country doesn’t comply.

“Mexico is either going to agree to it or they’re not,” Mr. Zeldin said. “And then we’re going to know whether or not Mexico is going to do its part to resolve it. And then we’ll go from there as far as strategy and tactics.”