President Donald Trump ratcheted up his pressure campaign on Mexico over water disputes, accusing the country of reneging on promises to stem the flow of raw sewage into the Tijuana River.
"Mexico must take care of its water and sewage problem, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "It is a true Threat to the People of Texas, California, and the United States of America!"
A 19-second video accompanied Trump's post, with a narrator speaking over images of polluted water.
"As Mexico continues to send millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage water into the Tijuana River, the often massive releases are linked to operational issues at Tijuana's primary wastewater treatment facility," the narrator said.
"It has created a health hazard for communities, like Imperial Beach and Coronado," two California cities.
It is the second time this week Trump has accused Mexico of breaking water-related commitments.
On Monday, he threatened to impose an additional 5% tariff on Mexico if it did not immediately comply with terms of a 1944 treaty governing the amount of Rio Grande water it must send into Texas through a network of dams and reservoirs every five years.
Trump's latest statement appears to signal he believes Mexico is not moving quickly enough to implement an agreement it signed with the United States in July.
Under the agreement, Mexico would allocate $93 million for sanitation infrastructure and commit to providing a "permanent, 100% solution" to the contamination crisis.
California state agencies and local officials reportedly will convene a series of public meetings next week to discuss mitigation efforts and funding for the sewage crisis on the Tijuana River.
Roughly 169 billion gallons of water contaminated with raw sewage, industrial waste, and trash have flowed through the Tijuana River Valley since 2018, creating an ongoing public health crisis for communities in south San Diego and Tijuana.
According to Kim Prather, an atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, industrial chemicals from Mexican factories — including solvents, heavy metals, and toxins known as PFAS, or "forever chemicals" — are flowing into California's portion of the Tijuana River along with sewage.
"The river right now is a wastewater treatment plant without any processing," she said in early December.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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