Coronado’s mayor flew to Oklahoma this week to talk with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency about possible solutions to the recurring Tijuana sewage spills that sully the San Diego County coastline.

Mayor Richard Bailey and Administrator Scott Pruitt spoke one-on-one for about 20 minutes Tuesday during an annual meeting between leading environmental experts and regulators from Mexico, the United States and Canada.

“We discussed possible next steps and (Pruitt) expressed a strong desire for some tangible progress in the very near future,” Mayor Richard Bailey said. “I’m walking away from this trip with a lot of confidence that the EPA are great partners.”

Tangible progress on stopping the flow of sewage in the Tijuana River Valley could come from installing basins that would capture and divert sewage flows to a nearby treatment plant.


To accomplish that, Bailey said Coronado hopes the EPA leverages its influence in the White House to apply pressure on the International Boundary and Water Commission, an international agency charged with overseeing efforts to stop the spills.

Bailey’s trip to Oklahoma is just one of several steps Coronado’s elected officials have taken to make the sewage spills a federal priority.

Since January, Coronado officials have met with members of Congress who represent the southern border to come up with a plan to provide infrastructure on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. In March, the mayor, City Manager Blair King and Councilman Whitney Benzian met with EPA representatives in Washington, D.C.

Coronado had been discussing the basin idea with EPA officials for months before Bailey met with Pruitt.


“We know this will not solve the problem 100 percent, but it will improve the situation and it is something that we can control,” Bailey said in a statement. “Our major challenge is finding a lead agency. No one has been willing to take ownership of this issue.”

Coronado’s long-term goal is to find funds, through the State Department or the North American Development Bank, for a $300 million sewer system update in Tijuana.

While Imperial Beach sued the federal government in March, claiming it is not doing enough to prevent the spills, Coronado has pursued a more diplomatic route.

“There is a two-pronged approach occurring concurrently,” Bailey said. “IB and others are pursuing litigation, which has been well-documented. However, the city of Coronado and the county of San Diego are pursuing a diplomatic solution. This diplomatic approach has been successful opening doors and we think it is a story worth telling.”


The day after Bailey spoke with Pruitt, Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina joined Tijuana council members Monica Vega and Manuel Rodriguez in Punta Banderas to ask the governor of Baja California to declare a state of emergency over the spills that reach all the way to Coronado.

Since filing the federal lawsuit, Dedina has been working with people in Tijuana to apply pressure oN the Mexican government to fix the sewage leaks.

For decades, spills from Tijuana have dumped millions of gallons of sewage and polluted water in Tijuana and San Diego.

In March, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego sued the federal government — specifically the International Boundary and Water Commission — alleging violations of the Clean Water Act.


The head of the IBWC stepped down in May at the request of the Trump administration.

Like Bailey, Dedina said the two approaches to finding solutions work well together.

“All strategies are welcome,” he said. “I think everyone working together is what is needed to fix the problem.”

Tuesday’s meeting came at the annual summit of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an intergovernmental organization established by Mexico, the United States and Canada that supports cooperation to address environmental issues of continental concern.


This year’s topics include environmental cooperation across North America and engaging the private sector for environmental work. The Tuesday meeting was about opportunities for expanding private-sector engagements with work and environmental cooperation across North America.

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