The U.S. and Mexico have formally enacted an agreement to invest $474 million across several projects geared toward reducing the amount of untreated sewage discharged into the Pacific Ocean near the border between San Diego and Tijuana. The International Boundary and Water Commission, which will procure and oversee the work, plans in the coming months to begin awarding the first contracts for a pre-design study on expanding the 25-million-gallon-per-day South Bay International wastewater treatment plant in San Diego. The project has encountered a slight complication as U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) has placed a hold on transferring the bulk of the $300 million the U.S. will be investing for the projects from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the IBWC. But EPA’s Region 9 office says some preliminary work can begin on the project using already appropriated funds under existing legal authority. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have said they hope to attach legislation allowing all of the funds to be transferred in a stop-gap spending bill in late September.