The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Oct. 22 to authorize legal action against Veolia Water and its parent, Veolia NA, or join existing lawsuits against the engineering consultant that operates the South Bay Wastewater Plant who has been accused of failing to do so. properly treat raw sewage that crosses the border from Mexico.
The county says flows from the Tijuana River have polluted beaches and air in its southern area for decades,
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer presented a proposed agenda item identifying the company and “potentially responsible” for damage to the river valley, estuary, marine reserve and surrounding communities in the possible legal actions She and the other four supervisors approved the move.
The vote drew a strong response from Veolia, which has insisted for more than a year that the wastewater crisis is a result of population expansion in Tijuana, Mexico, and that the wastewater plant it operates in the San Diego South Bay Area for your federal agency. The client, the International Boundary and Water Commission, is not responsible for river and ocean discharges that cross the border, and also notes the added obstacles they present to plant operation.
In a letter to the council, Adam Lisberg, Veolia’s senior vice president of communications for municipal water, said the vote was not a constructive step toward solving overflow problems.
“Scapegoating Veolia’s front-line workers for political theater does nothing to advance real solutions for the people of San Diego County,” he wrote, asserting that “the root cause of the environmental crisis … is the decades-long failure” or US and Mexican authorities to address more sewage and pollution flow from Tijuana that exceeds the plant’s treatment capacity. Lisberg again invited supervisors to visit the plant “so they can take a more informed approach in the future.”
The company also offered to show them a construction site in Mexico where truckloads of dirt “are piled into spillways with no protection against erosion and drainage in the [plant.].” The Tijuana River Canal, which does not enter the plant for treatment, carries sewage and debris from Mexico to Imperial Beach, Veolia says.
Board President Nora Vargas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the vote.
Residents have filed two class action lawsuits alleging that Veolia should have done more to avoid the current crisis. Attorneys for both groups have said they will add the Boundary and Water Commission as a defendant after the waiting period for suing a federal agency expires. The county can file its own lawsuit or join one of environmental groups, according to Lawson-Remer’s proposal.
The invitation to visit the plant marked a change of tack for the commission and Veolia, which had previously said only workers could access the facility due to potential security risks.
“What we have received so far from the [commission] It shows no transparency of the past, present and future of the project and there is no coherent plan” to fix the sewage flow problem, a spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa (R), who represents the communities in the neighboring county. The Voice of San Diego in early 2024. He claimed the agency failed to disclose deferred maintenance issues “and sent us an invoice. Saying ‘downtime’ is the least we can do in the public interest.”
