The U.S. Section of the International Water and Boundary Commission, an agency created by treaty to deal with water issues between Mexico and the U.S., reported on May 30 that two ruptures occurred in less than two weeks at a pipe system known as the Parallel Gravity Line that transports wastewater to the San Antonio de los Buenos sewage treatment plant near Tijuana.
Pipelines have failed with similar breaks over the past two decades. Mexican authorities are working on a new international sewer system to replace much of the aging infrastructure on their side of the border, but discharges into the Tijuana River continue to occur even though research has shown negative health impacts for residents on both sides of the border.
The exact reason for the most recent collapse is unknown, the US commission said, but the Mexican commission shut down several pumps along the border so crews can make repairs. The collectors intercept and divert cross-border flows of dry weather and sewage from Mexico to the South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant on the US side of the border.
USIBWC commissioner Chad McIntosh contacted Mexican IBWC Commissioner Adriana Reséndez on May 31 to request a 24/7 effort on repairs and demanded that Mexico do everything possible to keep sewage out of the Tijuana River. Commissioner Reséndez said Mexican authorities are working on several fronts to try to get the job done as quickly as possible.
