Yesterday, a coalition of California legislators introduced a bill aimed squarely at the persistent pollution plaguing the Tijuana River. Senators Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff, Cory Booker, and Representatives Juan Vargas and Scott Peters have jointly proposed the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act of 2025, an ambitious plan to hit reset on the health of cross-border watersheds.
The legislative initiative explicitly designates the EPA as the lead agency to orchestrate a cleanup across federal, state, Tribal, and local lines. The intent is to assemble within 180 days a comprehensive water management program, as detailed on Senator Padilla’s official Senate page. The program would prioritize crucial infrastructure projects to staunch the long-running pollution crisis. If passed, the legislation would enact the recommendations of a 2020 Government Accountability Office report and empower the EPA to approve and disseminate funds for priority projects.
Senator Padilla described the current state as intolerable, saying, per Senator Padilla’s official Senate page, “Raw sewage and toxic waste from the Tijuana River are still shutting down public beaches, threatening the health of our families, and jeopardizing the readiness of our military and border personnel.” Both Senators Schiff and Booker echoed this sentiment, advocating a swift response to a situation that has hit hard for communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Solutions like the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant (SBIWTP) are already in motion, with anticipated reductions of transboundary flows by 90 percent. The commitment demonstrated by these lawmakers has earlier led to funding allocations, including $250 million from last year’s federal disaster relief package, to jumpstart cleanup efforts at the Tijuana River. As reported on Senator Padilla’s site, additional measures such as an investigation by the CDC into the impact of pollution on air quality are also being pursued in parallel.
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