The San Diego congressional delegation recently sent a letter to Secretary Blinken asking him to visit the wastewater treatment plant to better understand the deterioration and need for emergency measures.
Read more about it in this July 21st piece from Voice of San Diego, posted below:
San Diego Congressional Reps Implore Blinken to View Border Sewage
By Voice of San Diego
July 21, 2023
Some of San Diego’s Congressional reps called on the secretary of state to visit a broken sewage plant at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Thursday’s letter to Anthony Blinken from San Diego’s Democratic representatives says the state of the plant jeopardizes a treaty made with Mexico to fix infrastructure on both sides of the border.
The IBWC recently revealed the plant needs around $150 million worth of repairs and is sending polluted water into the Pacific Ocean. That news came as a shock to Rep. Scott Peters and others who have since been calling on President Joe Biden to declare the situation a federal emergency.
The State Department controls the budget of the International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC, which owns and operates the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment plant. But Congress is trying to find other ways, like a proposal to the nation’s military spending bill, to find funding.
They also asked Blinken to investigate how the plant fell into such a state of disrepair.