“We’re coming here with an incredible sense of urgency to have a solution that can be executed to permanently end this,” Zeldin said during that visit.<\/p>\n
During the same trip, Zeldin met with his Mexican counterparts to discuss cross-border cooperation. Roughly 90 days later<\/a>, he traveled to Mexico City to sign a memorandum of understanding \u2014 a landmark agreement designed to set the foundation for future improvements.<\/p>\n “Follow through needs to be total, it needs to be fast, it needs to be urgent. It needs to be with unlimited dedication and passion,” Zeldin said.<\/p>\n In November<\/a>, the EPA released its first quarterly update, including a list of completed work and projects still in the pipeline. This was followed by the signing of Minute 333 in December<\/a> \u2014 another agreement with Mexico that solidifies research, monitoring, maintenance, and planning at critical sites while accounting for continued population growth in Tijuana.<\/p>\n Residents see mixed results<\/p>\n While the agreements look promising on paper, Imperial Beach residents have mixed feelings about the progress made so far.<\/p>\n Marvel Harrison, who has lived in Imperial Beach for 6 years, acknowledges some improvements have been made.<\/p>\n “We’re now getting some fixes done with the IBWC (International Boundary and Water Commission) that weren’t being done. They, they went for several years with no repairs, and it was a total devastation. And now those repairs, things are moving in place,” Harrison said.<\/p>\n However, she believes the progress has been slow.<\/p>\n “The smell itself has been at really stench levels recently, but not as consistently,” Harrison said.<\/p>\n According to the county’s sewage crisis environmental dashboard<\/a>, there have been 80 air quality complaints in the last two weeks alone. Warning signs remain scattered across the South Bay shoreline, indicating the work is far from complete.<\/p>\n ABC 10News<\/p>\n When asked about Zeldin’s promise of 100% cleanup, Harrison estimated the current progress at just 10%.<\/p>\n “Let’s fix this damn thing. Let’s find the resources. Let’s have the political will to actually totally clean it up because we can do this,” Harrison said.<\/p>\n Upcoming visit<\/p>\n During his Thursday visit to San Diego County, Zeldin will meet with small business owners and elected officials impacted by the crisis as he continues efforts to address the long-standing environmental issue.<\/p>\n Follow ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n![\"tijuana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770279609_982_.png\")
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