CLEAN WATER NOW/BAJAGUA SCAM NO!

CLEAN WATER NOW! BAJAGUA SCAM NO!

Bajagua project only a boon to investors
April 19, 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

Lining up against the Bajagua project
April 20, 2006
The editorial, “Bajagua project would help U.S., Mexico” (April 17),
argues that the Bajagua project is needed. I strongly disagree and
don't believe the editorial accurately represents both sides of this
controversy.

What most people can agree upon is that San Diego coastal waters suffer
poor quality primarily due to Tijuana-related runoff (surface and
sewage). While the Bajagua project may seem to adequately address this
by seemingly treating more sewage, it overlooks an undeniably
significant shortcoming. Bajagua addresses only a small part of the
puzzle and treating it like it's an end-all answer is reckless and
wasteful.

Bajagua fails to achieve basic infrastructure upgrades that we in the
United States take for granted. Approximately 1 million Tijuana
residents don't have proper sewage collection and conveyance
infrastructure. Bajagua will not put any new sewage collection pipes
into the areas of Tijuana that most need it. This is like trying to
take your car in to get serviced without any steering.

In the case of coastal water quality, Bajagua will not be able to steer
the contamination to where it needs to be processed. We should and can
do better.

KEN SIMON
La Jolla

I was surprised and dismayed by your editorial endorsing the Bajagua
project. As an active beach-going Coronado resident and a U.S.
executive working in Tijuana with over 30 years of living experience in
Mexico, I am somewhat familiar with the problems facing our border
region, and I do not think the Bajagua project will do much, if
anything, to solve the complex problems it is proposing to address with
its large scale treatment strategy.

I urge you to research the situation more closely, including the
articles written by your own staff disclosing the various weaknesses in
the Bajagua approach. During these times of important budget decisions
we must scrutinize large scale projects that are negotiated behind
closed doors in Washington and which then lack local support.

ROBERT JORDAN
Coronado

April 21, 2006
Surfing the Web on Bajagua project

After a short surf this winter I had enough of the smelly toxic water
that we call home in the South Bay. I did what most Web-savvy
thirty-somethings do these days: Google search the topic and get
informed.

After countless hours of reading and touring the problem in the Tijuana
River watershed areas that cause the beach closures, it has become
evident that the Bajagua proposal is a narrow-focused solution to a
problem that has many sources.

A quick tour of Tijuana and the growth of the area will show anyone
that the colonias are teeming with poorly paid factory workers who live
in homes without sewage hookups. Bajagua will not solve the water
quality issue when 1 million people have toilets that are not hooked up
to any system.

It seems the cost of cheap labor south of the border has come home to
roost.

Maybe we should put a sewage surcharge on all the cheap televisions
that come streaming across the border from the large assembly plants.
Either that or have Sony and Panasonic supply free antibiotics and ear
plugs for all the kids and surfers who will get infections this summer.

DARRIN POLISCHUK
San Ysidro