Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 572 To provide for the water quality restoration of the Tijuana River and the New River, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 3, 2021 Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To provide for the water quality restoration of the Tijuana River and the New River, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. TITLE I—TIJUANA RIVER PUBLIC HEALTH AND WATER QUALITY RESTORATION VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 572 IS Sec. 101. Findings; purpose. Sec. 102. Definitions. Sec. 103. Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Pro- gram. Sec. 104. Water quality plan. Sec. 105. Grants, agreements, and assistance. Sec. 106. Annual budget plan. Sec. 107. Reports. TITLE II—NEW RIVER PUBLIC HEALTH AND WATER QUALITY RESTORATION Sec. 201. Findings; purpose. Sec. 202. Definitions. Sec. 203. California New River Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program. Sec. 204. Water quality plan. Sec. 205. Grants, agreements, and assistance. Sec. 206. Annual budget plan. Sec. 207. Reports. TITLE III—BORDER WATER INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT Sec. 301. United States-Mexico border water infrastructure program. TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS Sec. 401. Role of the Commissioner and international agreements. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 3 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 4 mental Protection Agency. 5 (2) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis- 6 sioner’’ means the Commissioner of the United 7 States Section of the International Boundary and 8 Water Commission. 9 (3) MEXICAN.—The term ‘‘Mexican’’ means, as 10 applicable, the Federal, State, and local governments 11 of Mexico. 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 572 IS (4) NEW RIVER.—The term ‘‘New River’’ 1 means the river that starts in Mexicali, Mexico, 2 flows north into the United States through Calexico, 3 passes through the Imperial Valley, and drains into 4 the Salton Sea. 5 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 6 the Secretary of State. 7 (6) TIJUANA RIVER.—The term ‘‘Tijuana 8 River’’ means the river that rises in the Sierra de 9 Juarez in Mexico, flows through the City of Tijuana 10 and then north into the United States, passes 11 through the Tijuana River estuary, and drains into 12 the Pacific Ocean. 13 (7) WATER REUSE.—The term ‘‘water reuse’’ 14 has the meaning given the term in the document of 15 the Environmental Protection Agency entitled ‘‘Na- 16 tional Water Reuse Action Plan Collaborative Imple- 17 mentation (Version 1)’’ and dated February 2020. 18 TITLE I—TIJUANA RIVER PUB- 19 LIC HEALTH AND WATER 20 QUALITY RESTORATION 21 SEC. 101. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 22 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 572 IS (1) the Tijuana River flows across the United 1 States-Mexico border, through the southern United 2 States, and into the Pacific Ocean; 3 (2) 3⁄4 of the 1,750 square mile watershed of 4 the Tijuana River lies in Mexico, and the remaining 5 1⁄4 includes the Tijuana River National Estuarine 6 Research Reserve in the United States; 7 (3) the Tijuana River National Estuarine Re- 8 search Reserve is a partnership of Federal and State 9 agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmos- 10 pheric Administration, California State Parks, and 11 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; 12 (4) the Tijuana River is a significant estuary 13 and watershed, providing— 14 (A) economic and health benefits to the 15 citizens of the United States and Mexico; and 16 (B) environmental benefits as critical habi- 17 tat to shore birds; 18 (5) the economy of communities in southern 19 California, including smaller communities, such as 20 the City of Imperial Beach, and larger municipali- 21 ties, such as the City of San Diego, may be signifi- 22 cantly affected if the natural beauty and recreational 23 opportunities of the Tijuana River are degraded; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 572 IS (6) the Tijuana River watershed is in the midst 1 of an environmental crisis, as stormwater flows from 2 the upper watershed, originating in Tijuana, Mexico, 3 carrying pollutants such as bacteria, trash, and sedi- 4 ment that severely affect water quality; 5 (7) coastal communities in and near the Ti- 6 juana River watershed are also affected, during cer- 7 tain tidal events, by a combination of treated waste- 8 water and chlorinated-only wastewater discharged 9 from the San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater 10 treatment plant located 5 miles south of the United 11 States-Mexico border in Tijuana; 12 (8) as reported by the Government Account- 13 ability Office in February 2020, transboundary flows 14 of untreated sewage, combined with unmanaged 15 stormwater, bring bacteria and other contaminants 16 into the Tijuana River Valley watershed and beaches 17 in the United States; 18 (9) sediment flows into the Tijuana River Na- 19 tional Wildlife Refuge and blocks the flow of ocean 20 water and creating an imbalance in water salinity, 21 necessary for marsh plants, fish, and birds; 22 (10) the City of Imperial Beach has closed 23 beach access 1⁄3 of each year for several years before 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 572 IS the date of enactment of this Act due to risk to 1 human health; 2 (11) flows of untreated sewage, chemicals, and 3 pollution from Mexico jeopardize the health of Bor- 4 der Patrol agents and limiting the ability of those 5 agents to operate in areas affected by these flows; 6 (12) in the 2 years before the date of enact- 7 ment of this Act, local Border Patrol union officials 8 have reported that over 100 officers have suffered 9 from contamination, rashes, infections, chemical 10 burns, and lung irritation due to toxic cross-border 11 flows; 12 (13) a March 2020 report of the Environmental 13 Financial Advisory Board of the Environmental Pro- 14 tection Agency— 15 (A) found that— 16 (i) ‘‘stormwater knows no jurisdic- 17 tional boundaries . . . and is a principal 18 cause of water quality issues nationwide’’; 19 and 20 (ii) adequate funding to manage 21 stormwater pollution lags behind the in- 22 vestments made in wastewater manage- 23 ment and the delivery of safe drinking 24 water by decades; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 572 IS (B) concluded that Federal investment will 1 be required to address— 2 (i) the lack of State and local funding; 3 and 4 (ii) multi-jurisdictional stormwater 5 management needs; 6 (14) during the 10-year period before the date 7 of enactment of this Act, Federal, State, and local 8 governments and others have identified the benefits 9 of using natural and green infrastructure to control 10 and manage stormwater runoff, including wetlands, 11 coastal dunes, and retention structures; 12 (15) during the 20-year period before the date 13 of enactment of this Act, the United States and 14 Mexico, through the International Boundary and 15 Water Commission, have agreed to resolve the pollu- 16 tion problems in the Tijuana River; 17 (16) the International Boundary and Water 18 Commission has negotiated 8 minutes to resolve 19 water quality problems in the Tijuana River, among 20 other subjects; 21 (17) 1 of the most recent minutes authorized 22 the construction of the South Bay International 23 Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro to treat, 24 on average, 25,000,000 gallons of sewage from Ti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 572 IS juana per day, which has reduced the sewage coming 1 into the United States; 2 (18) the sewer system of Tijuana is— 3 (A) aging and deteriorating; and 4 (B) insufficient to meet the needs of a 5 quickly growing population; 6 (19) in February 2017, 1 of the main sewer col- 7 lectors of Tijuana broke, sending an estimated 8 143,000,000 gallons of raw sewage into the United 9 States, which was not the only time such a break oc- 10 curred; 11 (20) from February to July of 2019, an esti- 12 mated 4,500,000,000 gallons of wastewater, treated 13 water, and stormwater flowed from Mexico to the 14 United States; 15 (21) in June and July 2019, there were 3 sewer 16 collector breaks, resulting in a total discharge of raw 17 sewage of almost 2,000,000 gallons; 18 (22) a 2019 study entitled ‘‘Tijuana River Di- 19 version Study: Flow Estimates, Infrastructure Diag- 20 nostic, and Alternatives Development’’ estimated 21 that from 2009 through 2016, transboundary flows 22 occurred on average 138 days each year; 23 (23) those transboundary flows contain treated 24 wastewater, raw sewage, and urban runoff, with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 572 IS most of those flows associated with wet weather and 1 stormwater; 2 (24) the study described in paragraph (22)— 3 (A) found that improving the operational 4 reliability of the existing diversion system of the 5 South Bay could reduce the number of days 6 that transboundary flows occurred; but 7 (B) estimated that there would still be on 8 average 90 days of transboundary flows each 9 year; 10 (25) the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 11 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) has established a 12 stormwater permit program under the National Pol- 13 lutant Discharge Elimination System, under which 14 municipalities have the responsibility to manage and 15 treat stormwater; 16 (26) because of the international border and 17 different treatment systems and standards, dis- 18 charges in Mexico to the Tijuana River are not 19 treated to the same standards as the standards to 20 which discharges would be treated in the United 21 States; 22 (27) the International Boundary and Water 23 Commission negotiated Minute 320 to find solutions 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 572 IS for water quality, trash, and sediment in the Tijuana 1 River; 2 (28) the United States has— 3 (A) invested at least $250,000,000 for sec- 4 ondary wastewater treatment in the Tijuana 5 River Valley by the International Boundary and 6 Water Commission; and 7 (B) paid $18,000,000 to operate and 8 maintain the plant in fiscal year 2018; 9 (29) the United States has also helped fund 10 water and wastewater infrastructure along the bor- 11 der through the Border Water Infrastructure Pro- 12 gram and the North American Development Bank; 13 (30) however, as the Government Accountability 14 Office found in the report described in paragraph 15 (8), the long-standing environmental and health 16 problems associated with transboundary stormwater 17 flows continue, while the International Boundary 18 and Water Commission has not taken actions to re- 19 solve existing problems by proposing and analyzing 20 alternatives, analyzing costs, identifying solutions, or 21 establishing time frames; and 22 (31) significant additional investment from 23 Federal, State, local, and Mexican resources is need- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 572 IS ed to improve the water quality of the Tijuana River 1 watershed. 2 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this title are— 3 (1) to establish a program to plan and imple- 4 ment water quality restoration and protection activi- 5 ties; 6 (2) to ensure the coordination of restoration 7 and protection activities among Mexican, Federal, 8 State, local, and regional entities and conservation 9 partners relating to water quality and stormwater 10 management in the Mexican Tijuana River water- 11 shed and the American Tijuana River watershed; 12 and 13 (3) to provide funding for water quality restora- 14 tion and protection activities in the Mexican Tijuana 15 River watershed and the American Tijuana River 16 watershed. 17 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS. 18 In this title: 19 (1) AMERICAN TIJUANA RIVER WATERSHED.— 20 The term ‘‘American Tijuana River watershed’’ 21 means the portion of the Tijuana River watershed 22 that lies in the United States. 23 (2) MEXICAN TIJUANA RIVER WATERSHED.— 24 The term ‘‘Mexican Tijuana River watershed’’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S572.IS S572 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 572 IS means the portion of the Tijuana River watershed 1 that lies in Mexico. 2 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 3 the Tijuana River Public Health and Water Quality 4 Restoration Program established under section 5 103(a). 6 (4) WATER QUALITY RESTORATION AND PRO- 7 TECTION.—The term ‘‘water quality restoration and 8 protection’’, with respect to the Tijuana River water- 9 shed, means— 10 (A) the enhancement of water quality and 11 stormwater management; and 12 (B) the use of natural and green infra- 13 structure to enhance the ability of the water- 14 shed to capture pollutants and reduce runoff to 15 prevent flooding. 16 SEC. 103. TIJUANA RIVER PUBLIC HEALTH AND WATER 17 QUALITY RESTORATION PROGRAM. 18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 20 establish a program, to be known as the ‘‘Tijuana River 21 Public Health and Water Quality Restoration Program’’. 22 (b) DUTIES.—In carrying out the program, the Ad- 23 ministrator shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]