Border Cleanup Bill Authorizes $500M Through 2036 to End Sewage Flows in Tijuana and New Rivers

If you live in the San Diego or Imperial Valley areas, you know the transboundary pollution coming from Mexico isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a public health crisis that causes chronic beach closures and makes local life miserable. The Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act is a massive, coordinated effort to finally stop the raw sewage, industrial waste, and garbage flowing into the U.S. via the Tijuana River and the New River.

This bill doesn’t just throw money at the problem; it sets up two specific, dedicated programs (Title I for the Tijuana River, Title II for the New River) run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The core requirement is the creation of a science-backed Water Quality Action Plan within one year. This plan must identify every project needed, estimate its cost, and name who is responsible for the long-term operations and maintenance. This is crucial because, historically, the lack of a maintenance plan is often where these international agreements fall apart. The bill authorizes $50 million annually for each of the two river programs through fiscal year 2036—a potential total of $500 million over 10 years just for grants and assistance to get these projects moving (Sec. 105, Sec. 205).

Why Your Beach Might Actually Open

For residents of Imperial Beach and other coastal communities, this bill is a potential game-changer. The legislation acknowledges that the Tijuana River has caused over 1,000 days of straight beach closures and that even Border Patrol agents can’t safely operate due to the contamination. The new programs are required to focus on projects that meet public health, recreation, and wildlife standards. This means that instead of just patching leaks, the EPA must prioritize large-scale solutions, including water reuse, recycling, and natural infrastructure like managed wetlands, to handle the massive 36 billion gallons of wastewater and stormwater that flowed across the border in 2024 alone (Sec. 101).

Similarly, the New River program (Title II) aims to clean up what was once called one of the most polluted rivers in the country. By mandating coordination among federal, state, and Mexican agencies, the bill aims to prevent the pollution—a mix of farm runoff, sewage, and industrial waste—from threatening the health of communities like Calexico and Mexicali. The goal is to make the river more resilient and even increase public access for recreation, which is a big shift for this waterway (Sec. 201).

The Fine Print on Funding and Control

This is a huge infrastructure bill, and it’s structured to get things built fast. The bill empowers the Commissioner of the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to actually construct, operate, and maintain the funded projects (Sec. 401). This is important because it means the IBWC can bypass some of the bureaucratic hurdles and use the money directly to build the necessary infrastructure both in the U.S. and, with approval, in Mexico (Sec. 401).

However, there are a couple of points where the controls get a little looser. The EPA Administrator has the authority to transfer money to the IBWC Commissioner (Sec. 105, Sec. 205), giving the Commissioner significant discretion over how funds are spent. Furthermore, the Administrator can delegate the administration of grants to the North American Development Bank (NADBank), which receives the funding in advance. While this speeds up the process, it shifts the day-to-day management away from direct federal oversight, relying instead on the NADBank to ensure the money is spent correctly (Sec. 105, Sec. 205).

Who Pays for the Long Haul?

While the federal government is authorizing hundreds of millions for construction, the question of long-term costs remains. The required action plans must identify funding sources for the continued operation and maintenance of all this new infrastructure. For the average taxpayer, this means that while the pollution problem is being solved now, state and local governments—and ultimately, taxpayers and utility customers—will likely bear the ongoing financial burden of keeping these new treatment plants and systems running for decades. The EPA can require cost-sharing for projects, but the full extent of the local financial commitment isn't detailed here (Sec. 104, Sec. 204).

Finally, Title III sets up a broader U.S.-Mexico border water infrastructure program that can fund projects within 62 miles of the border. This program, however, explicitly excludes funding for projects that would enable new housing or business development (Sec. 301). This provision is intended to focus the money strictly on existing health and environmental problems, but it could potentially slow down critical infrastructure upgrades in rapidly growing border towns if they are deemed too beneficial to new development.