California will make $46 million in funding to help tackle cross-border water contamination.
IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — California will provide $46 million to address water quality problems at the California-Mexico border, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
According to a press release by the Governors office, the State Water Resources Control Board opened grant applications targeting contamination in cross-border rivers and coastal waters. The funding comes from Proposition 4, a voter-approved bond covering safe drinking water, wildfire prevention and drought preparedness that passed in 2024.
“We’re very enthusiastic, we’re optimistic to be partnering with the state,” said San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, who previously served as mayor of Imperial Beach. “It’s funding that will come at a critical moment in time as far as our efforts here locally.”
According to the governor’s office, funding will support projects that reduce bacteria and trash pollution, address public health impacts from transboundary contamination, and support restoration and sediment management. The grants target both the Tijuana River and other areas, with at least one project selected from each waterway. Awards range from up to $750,000 for planning or research to $10 million for implementation.
“This specific funding is just one bucket of funds, and it can only be spent on a certain prescribed type of work,” Imperial Beach Environmental and Natural Resources Director Chris Helmer said.
He said the city knew this funding was coming and welcomes the state becoming more engaged. However, he noted the money has limitations.
“What it’s not addressing is not giving relief to our businesses who are being impacted down here, it is not significantly addressing the public health issue at all,” Helmer said. “This is really on the infrastructure side of improvements, so this is a step for the state to be more engaged in supporting some of these projects but there’s a lot more that we want the state of California to be involved in.”
Aguirre has long advocated for action on the environmental crisis and has pushed for removing what she calls a “hot spot” along Saturn Boulevard that she says contributes to gas and chemical emissions in the area.
“So it’s important to have this funding that could go to help remove this piece of infrastructure that we don’t need to wait for the federal government to help us for so I think it’s important we’re moving in the right direction and I think it’s a time to be optimistic and hopeful in our fight against this awful crisis,” Aguirre said.
Newsom said California has stepped up repeatedly but cannot solve what he calls a decades-long federal failure alone. He is calling on the Trump administration to work with Mexico to ensure projects already negotiated to address the crisis are funded and completed, and to repair and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant.