‘Big Pipe’ to Return Tijuana Sewage Given Initial Council OK

Racing to tap federal funds that could dry up by midyear, the San Diego City Council gave conceptual approval Monday to a mammoth, $35-million concrete pipe that would collect sewage flowing from Mexico and pump it back across the border.

Nicknamed “the big pipe,” the 12-foot-diameter conduit would run along a two-mile stretch of the border, diverting the raw effluent that has flowed from Mexico into the United States via the Tijuana River.

The council voted unanimously to give a green light to the project and certify an environmental review of the pipeline, which could carry more than 600 million gallons of sewage each day.

Only Councilman Ed Struiksma voiced a note of caution, saying he was worried about “the overall cost to ratepayers” who will foot $10 million of the construction job.

In addition, environmentalists and some South Bay residents raised concerns that the project may be bigger than is necessary and could be used to push for construction of a sewage treatment plant in their community.

But several council members noted that the pipeline project still has several hurdles to cross before final approval, giving residents sufficient opportunity to make their feelings known.

“This project is an important step forward,” Councilwoman Gloria McColl said.

The issue of costs added a note of urgency to the council’s proceedings Monday.

Congress has already allocated $12 million for the pipeline, but an additional $13 million in federal funds can only be tapped from a Clean Water Act grant if the city applies by July 1.

After that date, the federal grant funds are unavailable as anything but a loan. Under that scenario, the project would have to be abandoned, city officials say.

“This issue needs to move ahead,” said Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who represents the South Bay region. “The major concern is keeping the federal government and local governments moving forward.”

Even the project’s biggest boosters, however, concede that the city has a fight on its hands to win the federal dollars. The president’s Office of Management and Budget has formally objected to funding for the pipeline.

Nonetheless, Mayor Maureen O’Connor, the chief booster of the pipeline plan, argued Monday that the area’s congressional delegation should be able to win approval of the federal funds during the coming months.

“We’re not asking for anything that any other city has asked for and been granted,” O’Connor said, noting that some U.S. cities have gotten more than $1 billion in grants from the federal government for sewer projects.

“I hardly think we’re being greedy,” O’Connor said. “It’s not that big a deal.”

But the San Diego congressional delegation has yet to reach a consensus on the pipeline. Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) has voiced strong concerns about the size of the pipe, saying he feels it would be used to justify construction of a sewage-treatment plant in the South Bay.

Many residents of that region contend that such a plant would only add insult to injury, noting that the South Bay has traditionally been “the dumping ground” of the county, playing host to proposals for everything from dumps to prisons.

City officials say the big pipe was designed to do the job of two other projects, neither of them built, that would trap sewage coming from Tijuana and return it to the Mexican city’s sewage system.