The U.S. and Mexico on Thursday took collaborative steps toward curbing a long-standing, cross-border environmental crisis: the unfettered sewage flow from Tijuana into Southern California.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and his Mexican counterpart Alicia Bárcena Ibarra signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that addressed the “environmental, public health and national security consequences” of transboundary wastewater contamination.

The officials expressed their intentions to “permanently stop untreated wastewater from polluting coastal communities,” while reaffirming previous commitments and endorsing new strategic projects.

“What the residents of Southern California need and deserve, what they've been waiting for, for too long, isn't just a solution that is a Band-Aid for that moment, but a permanent, 100 percent solution,” Zeldin told reporters from Mexico City prior to the signing.

The crisis at the heart of the MOU involves the passage of polluted wastewater from Mexico into southern San Diego County via ocean plumes and the Tijuana River.

This fetid flow — rife........

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