Understanding the truth behind San Diego County's cross-border sewage crisis
This crisis has plagued communities in San Diego and Baja California for decades, but misinformation and misdirected blame threaten to derail real solutions. This website cuts through the noise to provide the facts residents deserve—facts that show where the pollution really comes from and what it will actually take to end this crisis.
The False Accusations
Against Veolia
Plaintiffs' lawyers have wrongly targeted Veolia, which operates the South Bay plant for the U.S. government, claiming we're responsible for Mexico's sewage. Most of Tijuana's sewage never even enters the South Bay plant: it flows directly into the Tijuana River and the Pacific Ocean, bypassing any treatment facility entirely.
Former IBWC commissioner Giner stresses this point in the The River Radius Podcast - only the broader picture can help get a useful depiction of the causes and responsibilities behind the crisis:
The Real Problem
The numbers tell the true story: experts say Tijuana generates over 100 million gallons of sewage daily. The South Bay plant was designed to treat 25 million gallons per day and was upgraded in August 2025 to treat 35 million gallons per day. Millions of gallons flow untreated from Mexico every single day.
This is a crisis of scale created by decades of Mexican infrastructure neglect. While Tijuana's population doubled, Mexico failed to build proportional sewage treatment capacity and maintain existing infrastructure.
The EPA said: “For many decades, untreated raw sewage has flowed into Southern California from Mexico, polluting the Tijuana River Valley, closing beaches, fouling the air, harming the region's economy, and sickening people on both sides of the border.”
Veolia has repeatedly recommended extensive investments in capital repairs and upgrades to help the South Bay plant, but due to limited budgets, the IBWC spent only $4 million on major repairs and capital requirements. We've operated under taxing conditions, fighting daily against a deluge that includes not just sewage but rocks, debris, and mud that destroy equipment and harms operational performance.
The real solutions require what the EPA is now demanding:
Mexican Residents Need Real Solutions Too
There has been significant coverage in the U.S. about the pollution coming over from Tijuana. However, there is another side to the story: people in Baja California endure untreated sewage contaminating their state caused by Mexico's crumbling infrastructure. Ordinary Mexicans are also anxiously waiting for answers and concrete action from Mexican officials, including long-awaited upgrades to local wastewater infrastructure.
The real solution for the people of the U.S and Mexico lies in intergovernmental cooperation and adequate infrastructure investment. Lawsuits only take time and money away from solving the issue.
Our commitment to facts
Veolia won't let distortions go unchecked. Veolia is the leading water company in the United States, and we have earned that position by operating complex infrastructure well under difficult conditions, as we have done in San Diego for almost three decades.
Residents in the U.S. and Mexico deserve to know where their sewage crisis really comes from
Lawsuits based on falsehoods disrupt and delay real solutions to the crisis
The facts show Veolia is not the problem, but part of the solution
Someone needs to tell the truth about what it will actually take to end this crisis
We support the local, regional and federal leaders committed to delivering real bi-national solutions. We'll continue fighting these baseless lawsuits while protecting San Diego's environment and working toward permanent solutions.
The crisis that took decades to create will require sustained international cooperation, massive infrastructure investment, and honest accountability from the real sources of pollution. The latest U.S. - Mexico agreement brings a hopeful new chapter.
Yourself
