Joint Panel OKs Tijuana Pipe Funds

A joint U.S. House-Senate committee approved $20 million Tuesday for a long-sought pipeline to send as much as 310 million gallons of Tijuana sewage back across the border every day.

The appropriation is part of a $59-billion bill covering the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other independent agencies for fiscal 1989. The bill now goes to both houses of Congress and President Reagan for final approval.

The San Diego congressional delegation and Mayor Maureen O’Connor lobbied hard for the project, which is being designed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

“The defensive system is the first stop on cleaning up the sewage from Tijuana,” said Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego). “Long-range solutions may involve an ocean outfall and a treatment plant, and may have significant possibilities for the city of San Diego to address its sewage problems.”

The conference committee trimmed $7 million from the House version of the bill, but the Senate had not approved any of the money, said Karl Higgins, an aide to Lowery.

A one-pipe version of the plan under consideration may have a final price tag of $34.5 million, while a two-pipe system could cost $40 million, Higgins said. The city would make up at least some of the difference, according to Paul Downey, spokesman for O’Connor.

“At least the $20 million gets us started,” he said. “We are very hopeful we can get the additional $7 million” from the federal government next year.

The pipeline would collect raw sewage from the U. S. portion of the Tijuana River in south San Diego and pump it back to a Mexican conveyor system south of Tijuana, Downey said.

Higgins said the project could be completed as early as the fall of 1989.