The Flint ties to the Tijuana River sewage crisis

The Tijuana River sewage crisis in San Diego has something in common with a historic water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan: a contractor accused in lawsuits of making matters worse.

Veolia Water North America West, which operates the federal wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border, is part of Veolia, the company that in February agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Flint residents who accused the company of failing to give the city advice that could have protected them from drinking water contaminated with lead. The company, which has never operated Flint's water system, was hired by Flint to review its water quality, treatment process and distribution system after the city switched the water supply to the Flint River.

As of Tuesday, three lawsuits filed in state and federal courts in San Diego are accusing Veolia Water West of mismanaging the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant and failing to fulfill its contract, allowing billions of gallons of untreated sewage to flow past its facility into waters affecting the health and wellbeing of South County residents.

Filed in April, September and October, the lawsuits were brought by San Diego Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation and more recently by residents of Imperial Beach in South San Diego County.

Asked about the latest lawsuit in San Diego, a Veolia emailed inewsource issued a statement calling the allegations "meritless."

"Veolia North America has done its best to help operate the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in the face of increasingly challenging circumstances. The overwhelming cause of the odors and pollution affecting Imperial Beach is the excessive and uncontrolled sewage flows from Tijuana, much of which never even enters the South Bay plant."

The statement goes on to say that the Tijuana population has grown significantly while the city's infrastructure has not kept up.

"This plant was not built to endure these conditions: the uncontrolled flows of wastewater and the damage from mud and debris have overwhelmed the capacity of the plant and impacted its performance. This situation needs to be improved with stronger cross-border collaboration and holistic problem-solving at the local, state and federal levels," the statement says.

Veolia is a multibillion dollar French transnational water, wastewater management and energy company. The International Boundary and Water Commission contracted Veolia to run and manage the federally owned South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in 1998. The plant was built as a response to a growing regional wastewater infrastructure problem fueled by binational industrial expansion that outpaced the plant's capacity.

Since last year, South Bay officials have been calling on state and federal governments to declare a state of emergency over the Tijuana River pollution crisis. Some have likened it to the case in Flint where the city's mismanagement over changes in the municipality's water supply led to widespread illness and some deaths in the community. In Flint it took two years before officials declared the crisis an emergency. In San Diego, leaders hope their calls will be heeded sooner, though they have yet to be answered.

"There are a lot of similarities to Flint," said Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre. "Our hope is that it is addressed with the same or faster sense of urgency as we are not only being impacted by toxic gasses but by pathogens and chemicals."

In the meantime, some are tracking Veolia's record as it pertains to public health.

Flint officials hired Veolia to consult on the process of changing their water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River. The 2016 lawsuit against the company claimed Veolia failed to conduct the proper studies to determine possible corrosion problems which eventually led to lead contamination.

Despite reaching a settlement in Flint, Veolia has dismissed allegations of their responsibility in the crisis.

The company says it warned city officials about the possibility of lead contamination. But the public report Veolia issued did not disclose the possibility and focused instead on how corrosion was discoloring the water, according to news reports .

The $25 million settlement in Flint pales in comparison to the more than $620 million the state of Michigan the city of Flint agreed to pay out to Flint families.

In a press release Wednesday, San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer accused the company of "consistently prioritizing profit over the well-being of residents."

"The Tijuana River sewage crisis is a critical regional issue and an environmental crisis for our entire county. The coastal communities I represent are heavily impacted," said Lawson-Remer. "Next week I will bring a policy for a vote that if approved will allow us to start or join lawsuits involving the Tijuana River Crisis."

The most recent San Diego lawsuit follows alarms raised by a team of scientists led by Kimberly Prather from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which detected high levels of hydrogen sulfide downstream from the treatment plant.

This summer, following numerous pump failures at the plant, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District cited the company for public nuisance following a surge of complaints from South Bay residents.

"SDAPCD recognizes this is a complex and longstanding issue, but we will enforce our rules to ensure that South San Diego County residents are not burdened by odors from improper maintenance of the plant," Air Pollution Control Officer Paula Forbis said at the time.

Even the federal commission overseeing the plant, the IBWC, has admitted that the many pump failures that have taken place at the plant are a result of underinvestment and a lack of proper maintenance.

Since just 2018, 100 billion gallons of untreated sewage have poured through the Tijuana River into the Pacific Ocean.

Calls for a state of emergency continue. Last week the California Coastal Commission voted to send a letter to the Biden administration requesting a state of emergency.

"This crisis has reached a tipping point," said Alternate Commissioner and San Diego resident Gretchen Newsom.

"It is the biggest coastal issue in our entire state," said Mayor Aguirre during her remarks at the commission meeting.