EPAs Zeldin demands end to Mexican sewage flooding across border: Its been going on for too long

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is tackling a different border flow after illegal crossings plunged to record lows.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin embarked Monday on a mission to halt the flow of Mexican sewage into the US from Tijuana.“EPA is going to be on the border with Mexico,” Zeldin told reporters Monday before flying to San Diego.“There, for decades, has been raw sewage that’s been traveling across the border, and Americans are very concerned with regards to beach closures, degradation of the Tijuana River Valley and concerns of public health, air quality,” Zeldin said.“It’s been going on for too long, and we have to urgently and deliberately pursue and implement a solution that permanently ends this, and that is an important focus of ours.”Zeldin will meet Tuesday with Mexican Environmental Secretary Alicia Bárcena before highlighting the impact on local military operations.“We’ll be visiting with Navy SEALs.

Their training has been impacted.Navy SEALs have gotten sick,” he said.“I’ll be visiting a local wastewater treatment facility, participating in a round table with local stakeholders and elected officials, and taking a helicopter tour of maybe the southern border,” Zeldin added.“This needs to end, and there’s nowhere more important for me to be tomorrow than on the border in California dealing with this very important public health and environmental crisis.”The flow of sewage into the US is caused by inadequate infrastructure south of the border — a problem that can be expensive and time-consuming to fix.

Washington, DC’s sewer system, for example, regularly overflowed into local waterways during heavy rain, which an ongoing $3 billion tunnel project has significantly reduced....