S5075-118

101. Findings; purpose Congress finds that— the Tijuana River flows across the United States-Mexico border, through the southern United States, and into the Pacific Ocean; 3/4 of the 1,750 square mile watershed of the Tijuana River lies in Mexico, and the remaining 1/4 includes the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve in the United States; the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve is a partnership of Federal and State agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, California State Parks, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; the Tijuana River is a significant estuary and watershed, providing— economic and health benefits to the citizens of the United States and Mexico; and environmental benefits as critical habitat to shore birds; the economy of communities in southern California, including smaller communities, such as the City of Imperial Beach, and larger municipalities, such as the City of San Diego, may be significantly affected— if the natural beauty and recreational opportunities of the Tijuana River are degraded; and due to public health and environmental impacts; the Tijuana River watershed is in the midst of an environmental crisis, as stormwater flows from the upper watershed, originating in Tijuana, Mexico, carrying pollutants such as bacteria, trash, and sediment that severely affect water quality; coastal communities in and near the Tijuana River watershed are also affected, during certain tidal events, by a combination of treated wastewater and chlorinated-only wastewater discharged from the San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant located 5 miles south of the United States-Mexico border in Tijuana; as reported by the Government Accountability Office in February 2020, transboundary flows of untreated sewage, combined with unmanaged stormwater, bring bacteria and other contaminants into the Tijuana River Valley watershed and beaches in the United States; sediment flows into the Tijuana River National Wildlife Refuge and blocks the flow of ocean water and creates an imbalance in water salinity, necessary for marsh plants, fish, and birds; before the date of enactment of this Act, the City of Imperial Beach has experienced more than 1,000 consecutive days of beach closures due to the ongoing influx of sewage, industrial discharges, and trash from the Tijuana River due to risk to human health; flows of untreated sewage, chemicals, and pollution from Mexico jeopardize the health of Border Patrol agents and limit the ability of those agents to operate in areas affected by these flows; a March 2020 report of the Environmental Financial Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency— found that— stormwater knows no jurisdictional boundaries … and is a principal cause of water quality issues nationwide; and adequate funding to manage stormwater pollution lags behind the investments made in wastewater management and the delivery of safe drinking water by decades; and concluded that Federal investment will be required to address— the lack of State and local funding; and multi-jurisdictional stormwater management needs; during the 10-year period before the date of enactment of this Act, Federal, State, and local governments and others have identified the benefits of using natural and green infrastructure to control and manage stormwater runoff, including wetlands, coastal dunes, and retention structures; during the 20-year period before the date of enactment of this Act, the United States and Mexico, through the International Boundary and Water Commission, have agreed to resolve the pollution problems in the Tijuana River; the International Boundary and Water Commission has negotiated 9 Minutes to resolve water quality problems in the Tijuana River, among other subjects; 1 of the most recent Minutes authorized the construction of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro to treat, on average, 25,000,000 gallons of sewage from Tijuana per day, which has reduced the sewage coming into the United States; the sewer system of Tijuana is— aging and deteriorating; and insufficient to meet the needs of a quickly growing population; in August 2023, Tropical Storm Hilary— caused more than 2,000,000,000 gallons of contaminated water to flow across the border; and exacerbated vulnerabilities at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant; on January 22, 2024, a record-breaking storm caused the Tijuana River to reach the highest flow ever recorded for that river at 14,500,000 gallons per day; from January to June of 2024, an estimated 33,551,000,000 gallons of wastewater, treated water, and stormwater flowed from Mexico to the United States; on June 17, 2024, a pump station failure resulted in approximately 302,000 gallons of untreated spilling onto the public right-of-way; during the 2-year period before the date of enactment of this Act, transboundary flows occurred on 317 days, on average, each year; those transboundary flows contain treated wastewater, raw sewage, and urban runoff, with most of those flows associated with wet weather and stormwater; during the 2-year period before the date of enactment of this Act, unprecedented dry weather flows reached approximately 10,043,000,000 gallons; abnormal dry weather flows and sediment have caused pump failures, oppressive odors, and public health concerns; the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) has established a stormwater permit program under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, under which municipalities have the responsibility to manage and treat stormwater; because of the international border and different treatment systems and standards, discharges in Mexico to the Tijuana River are not treated to the same standards as the standards to which discharges would be treated in the United States; the International Boundary and Water Commission negotiated Minute 320 to find solutions for water quality, trash, and sediment in the Tijuana River; the International Boundary and Water Commission negotiated Minute 328 to implement sanitation infrastructure projects in Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, California, that will be financed with a total joint investment of $474,000,000; the United States has invested at least $300,000,000 for secondary wastewater treatment in the Tijuana River Valley by the International Boundary and Water Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and Minute 328; the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Boundary and Water Commission selected Alternative 2, as described in the final programmatic environmental impact statement of the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Boundary and Water Commission entitled USMCA Mitigation of Contaminated Transboundary Flows Project and dated November 2, 2022, and selected in the record of decision of the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Boundary and Water Commission entitled Joint Record of Decision for the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Mitigation of Contaminated Transboundary Flows Project and signed on June 9, 2023; the United States has also helped fund water and wastewater infrastructure along the border through the Border Water Infrastructure Program and the North American Development Bank; and however, as the Government Accountability Office found in the report described in paragraph (8)— the longstanding environmental and health problems associated with transboundary stormwater flows continue; and while the International Boundary and Water Commission has taken the first steps to conduct long-term capital planning to resolve existing problems by proposing and analyzing alternatives, analyzing costs, identifying solutions, or establishing time frames, significant additional investment from the resources of Federal, State, Tribal, local, and Mexican entities is needed to improve the water quality of the Tijuana River watershed. The purposes of this title are— to establish a Geographic Program to plan and implement water quality restoration and protection activities; to ensure the coordination of restoration and protection activities among Mexican, Federal, State, local, and regional entities and conservation partners relating to water quality and stormwater management in the Mexican Tijuana River watershed and the American Tijuana River watershed; and to provide funding for water quality restoration and protection activities in the Mexican Tijuana River watershed and the American Tijuana River watershed.

105. Grants, interagency and other agreements, and assistance In order to carry out the purposes of the program as described in section 101(b) and implement priority projects identified under section 104(c), the Administrator may— provide grants and technical assistance to the Commissioner, State and local governments, Tribal governments, the North American Development Bank, entities described in section 103(c)(11), nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education, in both the United States and Mexico; and enter into interagency agreements with other Federal agencies. The Administrator, in consultation with the entities described in section 103(c), shall develop criteria for providing grants and technical assistance and entering into interagency agreements under subsection (a) to ensure that activities carried out under an interagency agreement or using those grants or technical assistance— accomplish 1 or more of the purposes identified in section 101(b); and advance the implementation of priority projects identified under section 104(c). The Administrator may establish a Federal share requirement for any project carried out using any assistance provided under this section on an individual project basis. The Administrator may enter into an agreement to manage the implementation of this section with the North American Development Bank or a similar organization that offers grant management services. If the Administrator enters into an agreement under paragraph (1), the organization selected shall— for each fiscal year, receive amounts to carry out this section in an advance payment of the entire amount on the date of enactment of an appropriations Act making appropriations to the Administrator for a fiscal year, or as soon as practicable thereafter; and otherwise administer the implementation of this section to support partnerships between the public and private sectors in accordance with this title. The Commissioner may construct, operate, and maintain any project carried out using funds made available to carry out this section. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2035, to remain available until expended. Of amounts made available to carry out this section, the Administrator may use not more than 5 percent for grants under this section for salaries, expenses, and administration. The Administrator may transfer amounts made available under this subsection to the Commissioner as the Administrator determines necessary to carry out this section.

201. Findings; purpose Congress finds that— the New River was born out of— occasional flows of the Colorado River into the Salton Sink; and the erosion of the New River channel, which formed the deep river canyon between 1905 and 1907; the New River— starts in Mexicali, Mexico; flows north into the United States through Calexico; passes through the Imperial Valley; and drains into the Salton Sea approximately 66 miles north of the international boundary; the sub-watershed of the New River covers approximately 750 square miles, of which 63 percent is in Mexico and 37 percent is in the United States; the New River has been widely recognized for significant water pollution problems, primarily because of agricultural runoff, raw sewage, pesticides, and discharges of wastes from domestic, agricultural, and industrial sources in Mexico and the Imperial Valley; by the 1980s, the New River acquired the reputation of being 1 of the most polluted rivers in the United States, with many pollutants in the New River posing serious human health hazards to local populations, particularly in Calexico and Mexicali; in 1992, Minute 288 of the International Boundary and Water Commission— established a sanitation strategy for the water quality problems of the New River at the international border; and divided sanitation projects into 2 immediate repair projects, the Mexicali I and Mexicali II, that— totaled approximately $50,000,000; and were funded by both the United States and Mexico through the North American Development Bank; in 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency provided funds to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board to monitor and document the water quality at the international boundary on a monthly basis; in the late 1990s— the United States and Mexico spent $100,000,000 (of which 45 percent was paid by Mexico and 55 percent was paid by the United States) to build the Las Arenitas and Zaragoza wastewater treatment plants; and after the construction of those plants, untreated water from the New River was passed through 4 microbial treatment cells at the Las Arenitas wastewater treatment plant, which was then chlorinated and fed into a reforestation project along the desiccated Rio Hardy, which stretches to the Sea of Cortez; a 10-year effort by community groups, lawyers, regulatory agencies, and politicians addressed the problem of water quality in the New River at the source by— federally funding a new sewage treatment plant in Mexicali; and developing a site plan for the portion of the New River in the United States; in 2009, the State of California required the California-Mexico Border Relations Council— to create a water quality plan to study, monitor, remediate, and enhance the water quality of the New River to protect human health; and to develop a river parkway suitable for public use; in 2012, the California-Mexico Border Relations Council approved the strategic plan for the New River Improvement Project that was prepared by the New River Improvement Project Technical Advisory Committee; in 2016, the New River Improvement Project Technical Advisory Committee revised the recommended infrastructure of the New River Improvement Project, and the State of California appropriated $1,400,000 to provide grants or contracts to carry out the necessary planning, design, environmental review, and permitting work; the revised New River Improvement Project includes the installation of a large trash screen, a conveyance system, aeration devices, a new pump station, and managed wetlands; and the existing and ongoing voluntary conservation efforts at the New River necessitate improved efficiency and cost effectiveness, increased private sector investments, and coordination of Federal and non-Federal resources. The purposes of this title include— coordinating water quality restoration and protection activities relating to the New River among Mexican, Federal, State, local, and regional entities and conservation partners; and carrying out coordinated restoration and protection activities relating to the New River and providing technical assistance for those activities— to sustain and enhance fish and wildlife habitat restoration and protection activities; to improve and maintain water quality to support fish and wildlife, as well as the habitats of fish and wildlife; to sustain and enhance water management for volume and flood damage mitigation improvements to benefit fish and wildlife habitat; to improve opportunities for public access to, and recreation in and along, the New River consistent with the ecological needs of fish and wildlife habitat; to maximize the resilience of natural systems and habitats under changing watershed conditions; to engage the public through outreach, education, and citizen involvement to increase capacity and support for coordinated water quality restoration and protection activities relating to the New River; to increase scientific capacity to support the planning, monitoring, and research activities necessary to carry out coordinated water quality restoration and protection activities relating to the New River; and to provide technical assistance to carry out water quality restoration and protection activities relating to the New River.