WHEREAS, Due to chronic failures of the sewage system that serves the City of Tijuana, in Baja California, Mexico, large amounts of untreated wastewater flow into the Tijuana River and its tributaries and across the international border into the San Diego area of this state; and

WHEREAS, The flows of untreated wastewater often contain toxic contaminants because Mexico does not require the pretreatment of industrial waste and thus pose a threat to both public health and the ecosystems of the Tijuana River estuary and beaches located near the mouth of the river; and

WHEREAS, To address those issues, in July, 1990, the federal government and the Mexican government signed Minute 283, calling for a conceptual plan for an international solution to the border sanitation problem in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California; and

WHEREAS, The two governments agreed in Minute 283 to the creation of an international wastewater treatment plant, to be constructed on the southwest bank of the Tijuana River on the United States side of the border, that will be capable of treating twenty-five million gallons of untreated wastewater per day and is to be funded and supervised by the both the United States and Mexico, through the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission; now, therefore, be it