The U.S. and Mexico have inched closer to an agreement to end a decades-long sewage crisis that has fouled the Pacific waters off San Diego County, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced. The proposal, dubbed the “100% solution,” seeks to upgrade aging wastewater infrastructure on both sides of the border and stop raw sewage from flowing into U.S. territories.
“This week, EPA transmitted to Mexico a proposed ‘100% solution’ that would PERMANENTLY END the decades-old crisis of raw sewage flowing into the U.S. from Mexico. Next, technical groups from both nations will be meeting to work through the details necessary to hopefully reach an urgent agreement,” Zeldin posted to X on Friday.
Zeldin toured San Diego last month, engaging Mexican counterparts and local officials to firm up commitments. He stressed that piecemeal cleanups would offer only temporary relief. “Now, if you don’t do all of the other projects and all you do is clean up the current contamination, that feel-good moment will last about a day,” he said during a press conference. “We have to stop the flow in. Mexico needs to fulfill its part in cleaning up the contamination that they caused.”
The crisis, driven by explosive population growth in Tijuana and outdated treatment plants, has battered San Diego’s tourism sector and jeopardized public health. Since 2018, more than 100 billion gallons of raw sewage have crossed the border, closing beaches, sickening residents, and disrupting Navy SEAL training at Coronado’s Naval Amphibious Base. A Department of Defense inspector general report documented 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illness among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023, attributing the outbreaks to polluted water.
Navy veteran Jeff Gum, who endured sickness during SEAL training in 2008, warned of national security implications: “Like half the SEAL teams are located in San Diego; the other half are in Virginia Beach. So when you’ve got half the SEAL teams who are getting exposed to this, then it’s a major issue.”
Local leaders have amplified the alarm. Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre described the contamination as “among America’s most horrendous environmental and public health disasters” in a March letter to Zeldin, noting that over 31 billion gallons of sewage, polluted stormwater, and trash have flowed through the Tijuana River into U.S. waters since 2023.
Zeldin’s message to Mexico has been unambiguous: commit to a comprehensive plan or face continued cross-border pollution. “We need Mexico to not just commit to all the projects that will stop the flow, but in order to actually finish this project, they’re going to need to commit to that final cleanup,” he added.
As negotiations proceed, EPA and Mexican technical teams will refine the details and timeline for infrastructure upgrades. Zeldin vows that patience has run out. “The Americans on our side of the border who have been dealing with this… for decades, are out of patience,” he declared. “There’s no way that we are going to stand before the people of California and ask them to have more patience and just bear with all of us as we go through the next 10 or 20 or 30 years of being stuck in 12 feet of raw sewage and not getting anywhere.”
