The American administrator of EPA, Lee Zeldin, called on Tuesday in Mexico and the United States to develop a “100%solution” to stop the flow of raw wastewater from Tijuana which polluted the Tijuana river and left communities near the border with nauseating odors and often closed beaches due to high level of bacteria.
“The Americans on our side of the border faced there for decades are out of patience,” said Zeldin at a press conference in San Diego. “They want action and they are right.”
Zeldin visited the river north of the border and met officials from the Mexican government as well as local officials of the County of San Diego. He said the Trump administration was looking for “maximum collaboration and an extreme urgency to end a crisis that should have ended a long time ago”.
The Tijuana river has been plagued by untreated wastewater and industrial waste from Tijuana for decades. The growth of the city has largely exceeded existing wastewater treatment factories, and inadequate and broken installations spit the waste in the river, polluting water and air in the imperial beach and in other communities near the border.
Zeldin met for about 90 minutes on Monday evening with the Mexican Environment Secretary on Monday evening, Alicia Bárcena, and other Mexican officials, who, he said, said that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and his administration are “fully determined to do their part to solve this problem”.
Bárcena said in a post on social networks That it was a “very productive meeting”.
“We have agreed to strengthen our joint actions,” said Bárcena, “to accelerate projects to tackle Rio Tijuana’s sanitation for the well-being of our communities.”
Zeldin said that Mexico was to provide $ 88 million that he had previously promised in 2022. He said that US and Mexican officials were quickly planning to make a “specific declaration of the two countries” describing the measures that the Mexican government will take to help solve the problems.
“We all have to be on the same wavelength on the 100% side solution that if all these things on this list are done, this crisis is over,” said Zeldin.
He did not discuss the costs or a calendar, but said that the objective should be to “do each project as quickly as possible”.
The environmental group American Rivers ranked last week the Tijuana river n ° 2 on its annual list of the most threatened rivers in the country, against n ° 9 on the list last year. The group said it had raised the river on the list to attract more attention to chronic pollution problems of the navigable track and the lack of action to clean it.
Environmental defenders have urged the US government to prioritize the fixing and widening of the South Bay International wastewater treatment plant north of the border, which manages Tijuana wastewater and is in poor condition.
Zeldin visited the South Bay factory, where he met the mayor of Imperial Beach Paloma Aguirre and other officials. With him were members of the Congress, whose representatives. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano).
Levin said the US government has affected $ 653 million for repair and enlargement 300 million dollars were engaged in 2020.
“We have to get these shovels in the ground,” said Levin. “We must operate the South Bay factory, doubled in capacity, as quickly as possible.”
Zeldin also said that he met Navy Seals who trained in the region and had suffered from diseases due to polluted water.
In a recent report, the Ministry of Defense said that around 1,100 cases of illness had been reported among Navy seals and other soldiers exposed to high levels of bacteria when they trained in and around the ocean near the border.
“This has been a problem for decades. It has not been corrected. It only won,” said Dan’l Steward, a retired navy captain and a former seal who lives in Coronado but did not attend the events on Tuesday.
Decades ago, Steward fell ill after the basic submarine formation and had to take antibiotics to recover. Steward said he had heard similar stories from Seal and candidates who are following training on Coronado beaches.
“This is a national security problem,” said Steward. For naval staff in the region, he said: “This limits them in their ability to train properly, and it endangers his life for those who cross the basic training in particular.”
The other affected, he said, include the Marines, the members of the Coast Guard service and the agents of the border patrol. Steward said her daughter, surfing nearby, fell ill of a type of bacteria called Sarmwhich is resistant to many antibiotics.
“The United States has a role in helping to improve the situation,” said Steward. “We all have a role to play here. And I also think that it is the only way to solve the problem. ”
Ramon President, director of environmental advocacy for the non -profit group based in incinitas a Mar of colors, said that he would like to see various actions taken from the American side of the border, in particular by working to dismantle sandes where polluted water waterfalls are cascade and send water vapor and harmful gases in the air.
President said that he thought Zeldin focuses on the collaboration between Mexico and the United States made sense.
“Overall, I think that the general tone points more towards the holding of responsible Mexico, although there is a recognition that it will be an effort of collaboration on both sides of the border,” said PRESIZER.
A subject that has not been discussed but that has contributed to the problems, he said, is that many American companies have created factories on the Mexican side of the border.
“I did not hear a word on Maquiladoras And factories and industries on the Mexican side and hold them responsible, “he said.” There are American and Californian societies that operate throughout the border, and especially in Tijuana, and they pollute the river just as much. “”
Matthew Tejada, Vice-President Director of Environmental Health of Natural Resources Defense Fund, said that the commitments of American officials sound well, but that the delivery of these commitments will be more complicated due to budget and staff supply reductions. He noted that Zeldin said he wanted eliminate 65% the budget of the environmental protection agency.
“It will be an interesting tip for EPA to get exactly these kinds of results while they demolish the staff and systems they need internally to make these changes,” said Tejada.
He said recent Trump administration’s actions, including the reduction in financing and the return of environmental protection measures, “make much more difficult for this country to really have clean air, clean land and clean water”.
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