AWWA JTMGT64435

The Bajagua Project is a $180,000,000 solution to help meet the wastewater treatment needs of the City of Tijuana through 2023. It will have capacity to treat 59 MGD; 25 MGD as primary effluent pumped back into Mexico from an existing treatment plant operated by the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, and 34 MGD as raw sewage intercepted from the Tijuana sewer collection system. The treated wastewater will be returned to the United States, must meet secondary discharge standards, and will be discharged through the existing South Bay Ocean Outfall. A future goal of the Bajagua Project is reuse of the effluent in Mexico. The Bajagua Project is unique in many respects including: project facilities are located both in Mexico and the United States (U.S.) and the sewage crosses the international border; authorization of the Project required two acts of the U.S. Congress; construction and operating costs will be reimbursed from U.S. government appropriations; public-private partnership approach to designing, building, and operating the Bajagua Project is a "first" in addressing a bi-national pollution program; although the wastewater treatment plant is located in Mexico, the project will meet both U.S. and Mexican pollution control standards; and, development of the Project involves an extraordinary level of coordination to obtain approvals and permits from federal, state, and local agencies on both sides of the U.S. - Mexico border. Bajagua LLC has assembled a multi-disciplinary team with legal, technical, and financial expertise from both sides the border to address the complex and multi-faceted issues that must be resolved in implementing this project. Having received the approval and concurrence from U.S. and Mexican authorities, Bajagua LLC is proceeding with the procurement of a design-build-operate (DBO) contractor and is obtaining the permits and approvals required for construction.