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Tijuana, Baja California: Expansion of Wastewater Collection System to Tijuana River Basin Area
On this page:
- Project Location and Description
- Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
- Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Assessment
- Contact Information
Project Location and Description
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering authorizing the award of a Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF) grant to the Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana (CESPT), the local utility for the cities of Tijuana and Playas de Rosarito, for construction of wastewater collection lines to serve existing communities in Tijuana that lack adequate wastewater disposal. Tijuana, a municipality comprised of about 1.5 million people, is located adjacent to the U.S.-Mexican border on the Pacific coast south of the City of San Diego, CA.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The purpose of the proposed action is to address the environmental and public health risks associated with inadequate collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater. The proposed action will protect public health by providing wastewater collection to about 34,000 residents in the Tijuana River basin areas of Lomas Del Valle, Maclovio Rojas and Ojo de Agua that currently lack access to this service. Residents in these communities currently use latrines or open ditches for wastewater disposal. The proposed action will significantly reduce or eliminate the use of inadequate wastewater disposal practices, resulting in improved environmental and sanitation conditions.
The proposed action will extend the wastewater collection systems to communities within the municipality of Tijuana that currently lack access to these services. The proposed action consists of installing about 8 miles (nearly 13,300 meters) of wastewater collection (sewer) lines ranging from 8 to 15 inches (20 to 38 centimeters) in diameter. Raw wastewater generated by these communities is estimated at 0.12 million gallons per day (5.5 liters per second). All wastewater collected by the new sewer lines will receive secondary treatment prior to discharge in Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Treatment will be provided at the existing San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant and the Tecolote La Gloria wastewater treatment plant currently under construction.
The proposed action consists of installing about 59 miles (95,000 meters) of wastewater collection (sewer) lines ranging from 8 to 30 inches (20 to 76 centimeters) in diameter. This collection system will accommodate an estimated 2 million gallons per day (mgd) (88 liters per second (lps)) of wastewater generated by the communities and convey flows by gravity to the La Morita wastewater treatment plant currently under construction. The proposed action will collect an estimated 1.5 mgd of untreated wastewater that currently contributes to the Tijuana River. These flows represent about 15% of the treated effluent to be discharged to the Tijuana River by the two new La Morita and Monte de los Olivos wastewater treatment plants.
CESPT is constructing a complementary project that will ensure that wastewater flows collected as a result of the proposed action will not contribute to dry weather transboundary flows to the U.S. via the Tijuana River. CESPT’s complementary project will expand the Tijuana River diversion and conveyance system from 11 mgd (500 lps) to 34 mgd (1,500 lps) to intercept treated flows from the communities receiving service under the proposed action as well as all treated discharges from the two new wastewater treatment plants. Treated discharges and other river flows will be intercepted prior to the international border and conveyed in a dedicated line for discharge to the Pacific Ocean in Mexico at Punta Bandera.
EPA's involvement in the Tijuana , Baja California project is part of a national commitment to improve environmental conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border. EPA participates in the development and implementation of water supply and wastewater infrastructure projects in coordination with the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and the North American Development Bank (NADBank) 
. BECC is responsible for certifying projects so that they comply with sound technical, environmental, financial, and public participation principles. NADBank administers the BEIF grants for projects that have been certified by BECC and approved by EPA.
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), EPA has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) that analyzes the potential transboundary environmental impacts of the proposed action. After considering a wide range of regulatory, environmental (both natural and human) and socio-economic factors, the EA did not identify any significant impacts to the environment that would result from the implementation of the proposed wastewater collection system improvements. The EA and Finding of No Significant Impact (FNSI) are being made available for public review for a 30-day comment period that ends on November 15, 2008. Interested persons, including those who disagree with this proposal, may submit written comments to EPA Region 9.
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- Environmental Assessment (PDF) (124 pp, 2.4M)
Appendix B only: Water Quality Evaluation (PDF) (31 pp, 820K)
Appendix C only: Alternatives A and B (PDF) (3 pp, 481K)
- Finding of No Significant Impact (PDF) (2 pp, 23K)
Contact Information
For further information about these documents, contact:
Susan Cox (cox.susan@epa.gov)
U.S. EPA Region 9 (WTR-4)
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: (415) 972-3555
Fax: (415) 947-3537