As The San Diego Union-Tribute reports, Veolia Water North America, the private company hired by the federal government to operate and maintain the wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border, is being sued by Imperial Beach homeowners for failing to fix the malfunctioning facility that repeatedly allows raw sewage to pollute the Tijuana River Valley.
The plant is supposed to treat 25 million gallons of sewage from the Mexican city and send flows into the ocean. But years of negligence and underinvestment in infrastructure on both sides of the border have led to consistent, toxic flows spilling over the border.
Filed Sept. 6 in federal court, the class-action complaint alleges the company’s failure “to remedy or at least ameliorate polluted waters off the coast of Imperial Beach” has resulted in declining property values and residents’ inability to freely enjoy local shorelines.
