Lee Zeldin, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced Thursday that the Trump administration has brokered a “100% permanent solution” to the Tijuana River sewage crisis.
A memorandum of understanding signed by representatives of the United States and Mexico calls for increases in funding, reduced construction timelines, and adjustments to the scope of existing projects “to account for future population growth in Tijuana.”
“What the residents of Southern California need and deserve, what they’ve been waiting for for too long, isn’t just a solution that is a Band-Aid for that moment, but a permanent 100% solution,” Zeldin said. “This isn’t just an agreement for 2025.”
Zeldin visited San Diego on April 20, touring South County and visiting the Navy SEAL base in the area and getting a bird’s-eye view of the situation from a helicopter.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks during a press conference for an update on the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“I also smelled for myself that foul smell that so many residents of Southern California have been complaining about for so long,” Zeldin said. “What we felt leaving there as a team at EPA, and with the U.S. government, was this burning desire at the Trump administration to dedicate a tremendous amount of energy of time to make sure that the residents of Southern California would be receiving this good news as quickly as possible.”
The six-page document, signed by Zeldin and Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Mexico’s secretary of the environment and natural resources, calls for a range of infrastructure projects that must be completed no later than Dec. 31, 2027, a date that the administration says is “four years ahead of schedule.”
Three projects — two in Tijuana and one in San Ysidro — are called out for completion in 2025.
The Mexican government commits to diverting 10 million gallons per day of treated wastewater from the Tijuana River generated by the Arturo Herrera and La Morita wastewater treatment plants in Tijuana “to a site upstream of the Rodriguez Dam,” in Tijuana. The project, estimated to cost $13.3 million, does not appear to be fully funded, with the EPA’s statement saying that “Mexico will immediately seek internal funding to initiate the construction process for the diversion.”
Rehabilitation of a structure called the parallel gravity line, a backup pipe that can collect overflow from the Tijuana wastewater system, is also prioritized and listed at a cost of $8.2 million. Many additional rehabilitation projects on the Mexico side of the border are also specified for 2026 and 2027.
On the U.S. side, the memorandum calls for the treatment capacity of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro to be increased from 25 million to 50 million gallons per day by December 2027 and for the operation to reach 35 million gallons per day by August 2025.
Though details of how such a large increase in capacity could be achieved in just one month were not provided, work has been ongoing since the fall of 2024 to fix a key junction box that controls the amount of untreated river water able to enter the plant. The completion of this $5.7 million project, the first step in a $600 million expansion that pushes the plant’s capacity to 50 million gallons per day, appears to be what the memorandum is referring to in regards to capacity expansion in August.
While full funding of the project has not yet been procured, the memorandum seems to make a firm commitment that the federal government will find a way to make the project happen.
The list of goals and timelines in the memorandum appears to have aisle-crossing appeal.
U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, who has worked extensively to pull together federal support for repair and expansion of the San Ysidro plant, applauded the agreement on X, formerly Twitter, Thursday.
“I very much appreciate the consistent, persistent focus that the EPA and the International Boundary and Water Commission continue to give the cross-border sewage crisis that plagues South San Diego County and our coast,” Peters said. “In particular, I thank both agencies for their ongoing work with the design and engineering consulting team to find ways to shorten the timeline for progress.
“I’ll continue to work with anyone and everyone who wants to help us fix this mess.”
San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre was more measured, noting that so many in the South Bay desire relief from choking sewage orders and the loss of so much beach recreation space, now, not in two more years.
“This agreement is a step forward in the right direction, but the reality is, South Bay communities are continuing to suffer every single day,” Aguirre said. “Even with this agreement, there is still much work to do.
“Our economy, quality of life, and most importantly our health, is being impacted every day. The main source of pollution is the Tijuana River, and unless that’s directly addressed locally, we are years away from relief. Today’s agreement is a sign that our voices have been heard. I hope to see real progress in the next few months, and not the next few years.”
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce also issued a statement.
“We applaud EPA Administrator Zeldin and SEMARNAT Secretary Barcena for their decisive leadership as they work together to address this crisis,” said chamber President Chris Cate. “Their coordinated efforts to accelerate infrastructure projects, unlock critical funding, and align binational priorities represent a pivotal step toward real, lasting solutions.
“The Chamber will continue to help advance action on both sides of the border to address this crisis both federally and locally with the urgency it demands, including during our upcoming delegation to Mexico City in October.”
Originally Published: July 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM PDT