Wastewater Sewage is An Embarrassment

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address an issue that may not be on the top of the agenda for most politicians in Washington but could very well be the greatest ongoing environmental disaster in the United States today. I am referring to the billions of gallons of raw wastewater sewage, industrial waste, and other pollutants that flow from Mexico down the Tijuana River into San Diego and onto our beaches.

Those flows sicken our communities, they shutter our local businesses, they harm our tourism industry, and they threaten our servicemembers and Border Patrol agents stationed in San Diego.

The solution is simple. The United States owns and operates a wastewater treatment plant on our side of the border that in the past decades has not been maintained and is in desperate need of repair and expansion to handle the flows. President Biden included $310 million in his supplemental funding request that would make those repairs and upgrades possible. It is not a small price, but is there any more worthy investment than in the health of our constituents?

Air quality monitors that were recently installed in the region have confirmed what residents have felt for years--that unhealthy levels of pollution are present not only in the ocean, but sewage that washes up on land dries up and is sending dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide into the air around people's homes.

Many of the communities hit hardest by this are low income and communities of color. I can't help but think that if this was happening somewhere that wasn't 3,000 miles from here like the Chesapeake Bay or even the Great Lakes, it would already have been taken care of.

The public health disaster alone should be enough to force action. The harm it causes our local small businesses alone should be enough to force action. But in addition to all of that, the cross-border pollution poses a grave national security threat.

Coronado, which is in my district, is home to the Naval Special Warfare Command where Navy SEALs train in waters polluted with human feces. I am proud to represent these brave warfighters, but I am ashamed that we have not done more to protect their health.

Everyone expects this training to be tough and uncomfortable, but it should not pose potential long-term health problems.

Some former SEALs who now serve in Congress--all Republicans, by the way--have told me about the disgusting waters they had to train in, and I am thankful to have their support to get this funding.

Now, we know that Mexico must also do its part, and much of their infrastructure has also fallen into disrepair. The good news is that Mexico is bound by a treaty we signed in San Diego in 2022 to spend nearly $150 million to fix their pipes and their treatment plant. That is on top of the $2 million plus that Mexico pays the United States annually to treat these contaminated waters.

Mexico, to its credit, has made great strides in the last year on their side of the border. They have repaired and replaced key infrastructure like sewage pipes that redirect the contaminated water. And just today, January 11, they are breaking ground on replacing the wastewater treatment plant on their side of the border that has been broken, as well.

We should be embarrassed--embarrassed--that Mexico is acting with more urgency than we are.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, this is an urgent public health, business, and national security disaster. The more we delay in addressing cross- border pollution, the more costly and difficult it will be to fix it in the future.

I urge all my colleagues to support this funding, and I ask that congressional leadership and appropriators include this funding in any upcoming spending package.

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