Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill creates congressional findings documenting the severe transboundary water pollution from Tijuana including untreated sewage, trash, and sediment causing over 1,000 consecutive beach closure days, and establishing, defines key terms for Title I including American and Mexican portions of the Tijuana River watershed, the program, Program Director, and water quality restoration and protection activities, and establishes the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program as an EPA Geographic Program with a Program Director, management conference, and multi-agency coordination framework. It relies on appropriations, grants, reporting requirements, and definition changes. The main policy areas are Environment, Housing, Infrastructure, and International Relations.
Who Benefits and How
International Boundary and Water Commission could gain revenue opportunities, Water/wastewater infrastructure contractors could gain revenue opportunities, and Water/wastewater engineering firms could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Environmental Protection Agency would take on compliance duties, Federal taxpayers could face higher costs, and Executive Office of the President (OMB) would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Creates congressional findings documenting the severe transboundary water pollution from Tijuana including untreated sewage, trash, and sediment causing over 1,000 consecutive beach closure days, and establishing...
- Defines key terms for Title I including American and Mexican portions of the Tijuana River watershed, the program, Program Director, and water quality restoration and protection activities.
- Establishes the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program as an EPA Geographic Program with a Program Director, management conference, and multi-agency coordination framework.
- Requires EPA Administrator to develop a water quality action plan for the Tijuana River watershed incorporating existing plans and USMCA mitigation projects, with priority list of restoration projects updated every 5...
- Authorizes EPA to provide grants and technical assistance to state, local, tribal governments, nonprofits, and institutions for Tijuana River water quality projects, with $50 million annually for FY2026-2036.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill creates congressional findings documenting the severe transboundary water pollution from Tijuana including untreated sewage, trash, and sediment causing over 1,000 consecutive beach closure days, and establishing, defines key terms for Title I including American and Mexican portions of the Tijuana River watershed, the program, Program Director, and water quality restoration and protection activities, and establishes the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program as an EPA Geographic Program with a Program Director, management conference, and multi-agency coordination framework.
Key Policy Areas
Environment, Housing, Infrastructure, International Relations
Primary Purpose
The bill creates congressional findings documenting the severe transboundary water pollution from Tijuana including untreated sewage, trash, and sediment causing over 1,000 consecutive beach closure days, and establishing, defines key terms for Title I including American and Mexican portions of the Tijuana River watershed, the program, Program Director, and water quality restoration and protection activities, and establishes the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program as an EPA Geographic Program with a Program Director, management conference, and multi-agency coordination framework.
Policy Domains
Bill-Wide Definitions
Identified Gains
- International Boundary and Water Commission
- Water/wastewater infrastructure contractors
- Water/wastewater engineering firms
- Water infrastructure project developers
- North American Development Bank
Identified Costs
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Federal taxpayers
- Executive Office of the President (OMB)
- Federal agencies participating in Tijuana River program
- Federal agencies participating in New River program
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Padilla introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congress, Environmental Protection Agency, Executive Office of the President
Positive-direction: Congress, Indian Tribes in border region, International Boundary and Water Commission, Tribal governments, Tribal governments in Tijuana River watershed, Tribal governments within Tijuana River watershed
Negative-direction: Environmental Protection Agency, Executive Office of the President, Federal agencies (State Dept, IBWC, DHS, Interior, Agriculture, NOAA, USFWS), Federal agencies participating in New River program, Federal agencies participating in Tijuana River program
New River watershed stakeholders, Southern California coastal communities, State and local governments (City of Imperial Beach, City of San Diego, County of San Diego)
Construction and engineering firms, Construction contractors for transboundary projects, Water infrastructure project developers
Calexico and Mexicali communities, Southern California coastal communities (Imperial Beach, San Diego, Coronado)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of State
- "the_commissioner"
- → Commissioner of the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- "program_director"
- → Program Director of the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of State
- "the_commissioner"
- → Commissioner of the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
The Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program established under section 103(a)(1)
The river that starts in Mexicali, Mexico, flows north into the United States through Calexico, passes through the Imperial Valley, and drains into the Salton Sea
The Secretary of State
The California New River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program established under section 203(a)
Has the meaning given the term in the EPA document entitled 'National Water Reuse Action Plan Collaborative Implementation (Version 1)' dated February 2020
The Commissioner of the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission
Has the meaning given the term 'Indian tribe' in section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5130)
The river that rises in the Sierra de Juarez in Mexico, flows through the City of Tijuana and then north into the United States, passes through the Tijuana River estuary, and drains into the Pacific Ocean
The IBWC, a State, local government, Indian Tribe, or water/wastewater district with jurisdiction over any area within 100 kilometers of the US-Mexico border
A project for construction of drinking water treatment/distribution, wastewater management, or stormwater management infrastructure that addresses existing human health or ecological issues and has an effect in the United States
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology