Newsom announces $46 million of voter-approved funding to help address Tijuana River pollution

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday he is deploying $46 million in voter-approved funding to help clean up the chronically contaminated Tijuana River at the California-Mexico border.

Since 2018, more than 100 billion gallons (378 billion liters) of raw sewage filled with industrial chemicals and trash have poured into the Tijuana River, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission. The United States and Mexico signed an agreement last year to clean up the longstanding problem by upgrading wastewater plants to keep up with Tijuana’s population growth and industrial waste from factories, many owned by U.S. companies.

For years, tens of thousands of people have and continue to be exposed to the sewage. During a February visit to San Diego, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said it will take a couple of years to fix one of the nation’s worst and longest-running environmental crises that affects largely low-income Latino communities.

“People in San Diego County shouldn’t have to worry about getting sick, losing access to their beaches, and living with polluted air,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a news release.

The funding will come from Proposition 4, a $10 billion bond measure approved in 2024 to fund water, climate, wildfire and natural resource projects across the state. At least 40% of the money is supposed to be spent on communities hardest hit by climate change and environmental pollution.

The funding will be made available as competitive grants for projects that reduce bacteria and trash, address public health issues related to the cross-border pollution and support mitigation and restoration.

The raw, foul-smelling sewage that empties into the Pacific Ocean also emits hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that can erode neurons in the nose and trigger asthma attacks, and cause symptoms such as headaches, nausea, cough, shortness of breath, skin and eye irritation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its long-term health problems are only starting to be understood.

“This funding is desperately needed. Certainly every dollar we can secure to address the Tijuana River crisis is a big help,” said Phillip Musegaas, executive director of the San Diego Coastkeeper, an environmental nonprofit in Southern California. “Unfortunately, this funding is really just a small portion of what’s needed to fully address the crisis."

He added: “We need more federal funding to fix and expand the wastewater infrastructure that is now under stress and is often failing or inadequate to treat all the sewage that’s being generated.”

In Thursday's announcement, Newsom called on the Trump administration again to find a permanent fix.

“California has stepped up repeatedly, but we can’t solve a decades-long federal failure on our own," Newsom said in the release. “The Trump administration must do its part, honor its commitments, and finally deliver the lasting solutions this community deserves, and they have a moral obligation to provide.”