Bi-National Programs

The Federally owned and operated International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP), located on the U.S. side of the border, provides primary treatment of 25 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage from Mexico; across the border, a Mexican facility treats about 17 million gallons a day. However, due to the lack of adequate collection and treatment capacity in Mexico, sewage still occasionally flows into the Tijuana River Valley in San Diego and eventually, the ocean. The IWTP plans to add secondary treatment facilities to the plant. The debate over what type of secondary treatment should be used, where it should be located and when it should be built remains an important bi-national issue for both Mexico and the US.

In addition to conducting an Ocean Monitoring program under a Federal contract to evaluate the environmental impact on the ocean of the wastewater discharge from the IWTP, the Metro Wastewater's Environmental Monitoring & Technical Services staff has also provided training to their counterparts in Mexico in the control of industrial inputs to the sewer system using San Diego's highly effective Industrial Wastewater Control Program as a template. State of California officials have called this program a "model for international cooperation." A series of Technology Transfer Workshops, designed to improve the reliability of the Tijuana sewer system through an information-sharing forum, have also been sponsored by the Wastewater Branch. And to help prevent future sewer overflows in the City of Tijuana, the Wastewater Branch has assisted CESPT (State Commission for Public Works for Tijuana) with an emergency sewer main cleaning and repair assistance program for several of Tijuana's most troublesome sewer mains.