The Biden administration’s $55.9-billion supplemental funding request to Congress for disaster response and other issues includes $310 million for a project to repair and expand the ailing South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, Calif. The plant is part of a repeatedly overwhelmed wastewater treatment system on the U.S.-Mexico border that has allowed untreated sewage flows to foul area beaches.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency already has $300 million for the project from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The new funding request comes after the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) said their cost estimate for the work had risen from about $627 million to $910 million or more.