Hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding could be coming from the federal government to stop the flow of sewage into the South Bay.
Congressional leaders said on Tuesday they have agreed on a bill to keep the government funded through mid-March. Funding was set to run out Friday night.
The stopgap measure would prevent a shutdown until March 14, and it contains money for a project critical in San Diego: $250 million to fix and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. That's one of the plants that is supposed to treat sewage flowing into San Diego from Mexico.
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NBC 7 investigates the millions of gallons of raw sewage crossing from Tijuana into the United States every day, including how the crisis affects our health — and what must be done to end it.
Following the border sewage crisis
Back in September, the government broke ground on the repairs to the plant even though they didn't have the money to completely fund the project. Since then, San Diego's congressional delegation has been pushing for more money.
A spokesman for Rep. Scott Peters said the funding in Tuesday's deal is enough to finish the job.
Though this is a step forward, local leaders tell NBC 7 there is more to be done, including cleaning up the environmental damage caused by years of untreated sewage.
The news came on the same day there were major efforts on both sides of the border to clean up the crisis.
