U.S. Water News Online
SAN DIEGO -- Ocean pollution along the U.S.-Mexico border from inadequately treated sewage will receive more scientific study as a result of a legal settlement submitted recently to a federal magistrate in San Diego.
The federal government will pay for $2 million worth of monitoring and analysis under the agreement reached between the Surfrider Foundation and the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission.
"This settlement resolves almost two years of litigation," said Randall Humm, a Department of Justice attorney. "It will improve knowledge about the marine environment and help decision makers make better decisions involving environmental protection."
The settlement, which is expected to be approved by Magistrate Judge James Stiven, concludes a lawsuit Surfrider filed in November 1999 to force the commission to upgrade its sewage treatment at a plant near the border.
"The studies the government will now do as part of this settlement are what they should have done in the first place," said Rory Wicks, a Surfrider Foundation attorney. "Two hundred million dollars has been spent (on sewage facilities) and the beaches are still closed."
The commission's plant, which treats sewage from Mexico, has been in constant violation of its state permit and the federal Clean Water Act since the South Bay ocean outfall pipe became operational in January 1999, according to officials.
The outfall discharges treated sewage, or effluent, approximately 3 1/2 miles offshore of Imperial Beach. The problem is that the effluent doesn't meet state or federal standards and contains contaminants that could harm humans and marine life.
"In building the border sewage plant and the South Bay outfall, the federal government assumed the source of bacteria was the Tijuana River," Wicks said. "Then they were surprised when the beaches continued to be closed from high bacteria after the outfall came on line."
Surfrider sued to force the government to upgrade to secondary treatment and to have independent ocean monitoring to ensure the effluent isn't harming kelp beds or reaching South Bay beaches.
Under the settlement, only the latter is required. However, the state recently filed its own lawsuit to compel the federal government to upgrade to secondary treatment, a process that removes more bacteria and solids than the current primary treatment level.
"The settlement doesn't directly affect our case and we will be pursuing our action" to establish a deadline for the commission to upgrade to secondary treatment, said Sandra Michioku, spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office.
Beaches in Imperial Beach were closed 39 days in 2000 due to high bacteria contamination. Experts believe the bacteria is coming primarily from the Tijuana River, but environmentalists suspect that ocean currents could be pushing contamination ashore from either the U.S. outfall or Mexican sewage discharged at the shoreline at Punta Banderas just south of the border.
"We certainly welcome any additional information that will give us a better picture of what's happening," said Mayda Winter, an Imperial Beach City Councilwoman.
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