For decades South Bay communities have faced the repercussions of failing sewage and wastewater facilities on both sides of the border.
The Tijuana River sewage crisis in San Diego has something in common with a historic water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan: a contractor accused in lawsuits of making matters worse.
Veolia Water North America West, which operates the federal wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border, is part of Veolia, the company that in February agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Flint residents who accused the company of failing to give the city advice that could have protected them from drinking water contaminated with lead. The company, which has never operated Flint’s water system, was hired by Flint to review its water quality, treatment process, and distribution system after the city switched the water supply to the Flint River.
As of Tuesday, three lawsuits filed in state and federal courts in San Diego are accusing Veolia Water West of mismanaging the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant and failing to fulfill its contract, allowing billions of gallons of untreated sewage to flow past its facility into waters affecting the health and wellbeing of South County residents.
Filed in April, September and October, the lawsuits were brought by San Diego Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation and more recently by residents of Imperial Beach in South San Diego County.
Asked about the latest lawsuit in San Diego, a Veolia emailed inewsource issued a statement calling the allegations “meritless.”
“Veolia North America has done its best to help operate the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in the face of increasingly challenging circumstances. The overwhelming cause of the odors and pollution affecting Imperial Beach is the excessive and uncontrolled sewage flows from Tijuana, much of which never even enters the South Bay plant.”
The statement goes on to say that the Tijuana population has grown significantly while the city’s infrastructure has not kept up.
“This plant was not built to endure these conditions: the uncontrolled flows of wastewater and the damage from mud and debris have overwhelmed the capacity of the plant and impacted its performance. This situation needs to be improved with stronger cross-border collaboration and holistic problem-solving at the local, state and federal levels,” the statement says.
Veolia is a multibillion dollar French transnational water, wastewater management and energy company. The International Boundary and Water Commission contracted Veolia to run and manage the federally owned South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in 1998. The plant was built as a response to a growing regional wastewater infrastructure problem fueled by binational industrial expansion that outpaced the plant’s capacity.
Since last year, South Bay officials have been calling on state and federal governments to declare a state of emergency over the Tijuana River pollution crisis. Some have likened it to the case in Flint where the city’s mismanagement over changes in the municipality’s water supply led to widespread illness and some deaths in the community. In Flint it took two years before officials declared the crisis an emergency. In San Diego, leaders hope their calls will be heeded sooner, though they have yet to be answered.
“There are a lot of similarities to Flint,” said Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre. “Our hope is that it is addressed with the same or faster sense of urgency as we are not only being impacted by toxic gasses but by pathogens and chemicals.”
In the meantime, some are tracking Veolia’s record as it pertains to public health.
Read the full story on inewsource.org.
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