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Wildcoast lines up for clean water and against Bajaguascam
by Serge Dedina
01/05/2006:// SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE- Letters to the Editor
Bajagua project only a boon to investors
April 24, 2006
Regarding “A good deal/Bajagua project would help U.S., Mexico” (Editorial, April 17); The only people for whom Bajagua is a “good deal” are the investors who stand to make an estimated profit of $66 million from U.S. taxpayers. Bajagua is not a good deal for the great majority of people on either side of the border. To the thousands of Imperial Beach and Coronado residents whose beaches are too polluted to use, Bajagua would change nothing. Bajagua could go in tomorrow and our beaches in Imperial Beach and Coronado would still be closed. Meanwhile, the kids in Imperial Beach and Coronado will continue to surf in sewage.
Our beaches are polluted because nearly 1 million people living in Tijuana's colonias do not have proper sewage collection and conveyance infrastructure. This, coupled with the fact that Tijuana is on average 300 feet higher in elevation than San Diego, means that even with the smallest amount of rain, millions of gallons of toxic soup flow across the border into the United States and flush into the Pacific. How much of this sewage will Bajagua treat? Absolutely none of it. Simply put, Bajagua will not put any new sewage collection pipes into the areas of Tijuana that most need it. Bajagua will not “generally” help Mexicans either. The few Mexicans for whom this project is “a good deal” are the wealthy investors. And they don't live in Tijuana, they live in north San Diego County.
Last year Imperial Beach was closed 83 days and Coronado for 55 days. It is critical that we have a comprehensive clean water action plan to fight the pollution off our coast. WiLDCOAST and the Imperial Beach City Council are developing a plan to reduce beach closures significantly, for a fraction of the cost of Bajagua. This is the good deal U.S. taxpayers deserve.
BEN WINKLER-McCUE Coastal Conservation Program Manager, WiLDCOAST Imperial Beach
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