At least seven homes in Tijuana’s Colonia Libertad have been flooded with raw sewage since March after a broken sewer pipe went unrepaired by the state water utility. Residents on three streets say heavy construction vehicles working on the Tijuana viaduct project damaged the pipe, and no one has taken responsibility for fixing it.
The affected households are located on Calle Diego Rivera, Calle Emiliano Zapata, and Calle Ocho. For more than four months, families have endured sewage backing up through drains and into their homes, creating persistent odors and raising serious health concerns.
Broken Pipe Blamed on Viaduct Construction
Residents say the sewer line was damaged by heavy machinery used in the ongoing Tijuana viaduct construction project, a major roadway infrastructure effort in the city. The pipe falls under the jurisdiction of CESPT (Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana), Baja California’s state water and sewer utility. Despite repeated complaints, CESPT has not repaired the broken line.
The situation creates a familiar problem in Tijuana: when large public works projects cause collateral damage to surrounding infrastructure, repair responsibility often becomes a dispute between the construction contractor, the city government, and the utility. In this case, residents are caught in the middle with no resolution in sight.
Health Risks and No Timeline for Repair
Exposure to raw sewage poses documented health risks including gastrointestinal illness, skin infections, and respiratory problems from airborne bacteria. The prolonged nature of this spill, now stretching past four months, compounds those dangers for the families involved.
Tijuana has long struggled with aging sewer infrastructure. In January 2026, a collapse of the Insurgentes Collector, a major sewer line roughly three miles long that carries about 900 liters of wastewater per second, sent millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing across the border into San Diego’s Tijuana River Valley. CESPT manages that system as well.
The Colonia Libertad neighborhood sits in central Tijuana, east of the Zona Centro and close to the border crossing area. It is one of the city’s older residential districts, where infrastructure has not always kept pace with development and construction activity.
As of this report, CESPT has not announced a timeline for repairing the damaged pipe or compensating affected homeowners. Residents continue to document the damage and press the utility for action.
This story was first reported by Zeta Tijuana.