Photo Credit: Surfrider Foundation and Veriditas Rising
Last Thursday (July 25, 2025), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin traveled to Mexico to sign and announce a new agreement with the Secretary of the Environment and National Resources of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra. The new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Mexico demonstrates the urgency and priority with which the two administrations are pledging to implement the infrastructure solutions needed to solve the decades-long transboundary pollution crisis. View EPA’s press release here.
The Tijuana River Watershed is a strikingly beautiful and deeply meaningful place for communities on both sides of the Mexico/U.S. border, including members of the Kumeyaay nation. It provides critical habitat to countless species and is home to the largest remaining coastal wetland in Southern California. Yet each year, billions of gallons of untreated sewage, industrial chemicals, and trash flow across the border through the river and enter the Pacific Ocean, causing beach closures throughout South San Diego County and widespread human health issues and illnesses throughout the region. In 2024, over 36 billion gallons of polluted flows contaminated the Tijuana River Valley, closing beaches, fouling the air, harming the region’s economy, and sickening people on both sides of the border.
While Surfrider Foundation San Diego and the local community have been raising the alarm on this environmental and public health crisis for decades, there has been a real groundswell of support building in recent years from community members, partner organizations, and local, state, and federal officials. The tireless dedication and persistent courage of community members and local leaders who have long raised their voices for clean water, safe beaches, and a healthy future for our children have created a movement that can no longer be ignored. In 2024 alone, Surfrider and our coalition partners successfully advocated for $490 million from state and federal sources for much-needed infrastructure repairs and improvements in the Tijuana River Watershed. Two large wastewater treatment plants on both sides of the border broke ground on critical improvements and expansions. However, we’ve been informed that these projects, as well as other infrastructure solutions needed to provide relief to the affected communities, are years away from completion.
The MOU, released just last week, expresses more urgency for the need to complete this work and obligates the US to release dedicated funding to complete water infrastructure projects, including the expansion of the treatment capacity at the South Bay International Water Treatment Plant from 25 to 50 million gallons per day (MGD). Mexico has agreed to allocate $93 million in promised funding over two years toward completing projects laid out in Treaty Minute 328. These projects will be completed on an expedited schedule, with a target completion date of August 28, 2025, for the 35 MGD upgrade of the International Treatment Plant, and December 2027 for the full 50 MGD upgrade. Surfrider is very pleased to see that this agreement also includes the commitment of a funding source to cover Operations & Maintenance, to ensure the new and upgraded water infrastructure continues to function for years to come. More details are provided in the MOU.
Mexico has also committed to seek funding to start construction of a Tijuana River diversion project. This is of great interest to the local communities affected by noxious air quality conditions resulting from the release of hydrogen sulfide into the air from contaminated water, and we look forward to learning more about this project.
Surfrider and our coalition partners are also watching closely the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies FY26 Appropriations Bill that passed through the Appropriations Committee last week that includes record funding of $45 million for the EPA’s Border Water Infrastructure Grant Program which would provide some of the needed funding to support the critical wastewater infrastructure projects outlined in the MOU. If this program’s funding level is echoed in the Senate and included in the final FY26 federal budget, it will be a significant win for clean water in the border region.
The Surfrider Foundation sincerely hopes that the two countries meet the deadlines outlined in the new agreement and that they remain dedicated to the long-term operations and maintenance of adequate and properly functioning water infrastructure in the Mexico/U.S. border region. We have long dreamed of returning clean water and healthy beaches, ecosystems, and communities to this treasured coastline. Thank you to all of our partners and other community advocates who have been showing up to demand action to solve this public health crisis that we’ve been living through for far too long.
To stay informed on local opportunities to get involved, please visit the Surfrider Foundation San Diego’s Clean Border Water Now webpage to sign up for newsletter updates.
Photo Credit: Veriditas Rising