Tijuana’s State Public Services Commission (CESPT) is wrapping up a 7.6 million peso (roughly $380,000 USD) sewer rehabilitation project in Colonia Guaycura, replacing underground pipes that were nearly 50 years old. CESPT director Mónica Vega Aguirre toured the affected streets to inspect the final phase of work and speak with residents.
The project covers 1,170 linear meters of sewer network and includes 115 new household connections. Crews used pipe bursting, a trenchless technique that pulls new pipe through the old one without digging up the street. The method reduces surface disruption compared to traditional open-trench excavation.
Decades of Blockages and Seepage
For Guaycura residents, the aging infrastructure had caused chronic blockages and sewage seepage for years. The problems disrupted daily life and limited access on neighborhood streets. The new pipes and connections are designed to end those recurring failures.
Colonia Guaycura sits in one of Tijuana’s older residential areas, where much of the underground infrastructure dates to the 1970s. Tijuana’s rapid population growth, now home to more than 2 million people, has put enormous strain on sewage systems originally built for a far smaller city.
Trenchless Technology Limits Street Disruption
Pipe bursting works by feeding a new pipe through the old one while a bursting head fractures the existing pipe outward. The technique avoids the need to tear up entire roadways. Residents should still expect some minor street disruptions during the remaining pavement restoration phase as crews finish surface repairs.
The Guaycura project is part of a broader CESPT push to replace aging sewer lines across Tijuana’s older colonias. The city’s deteriorating underground infrastructure has been a persistent issue, with some Reddit commenters noting that Tijuana’s sewer pipes, many around 70 years old, are “being replaced at good speed” but the scale of the task is massive for a city of more than 3 million metro residents.
Broader Sewer Challenges in Tijuana
Tijuana’s wastewater woes extend well beyond individual neighborhoods. Cross-border sewage spills into the Tijuana River have prompted international intervention, with the U.S. government spending $13.4 million to rehabilitate the PB-1 pump station near the border. Mexico is also rehabilitating the International Collector, the city’s largest wastewater conveyance pipe, which will carry up to 60 million gallons per day to treatment plants once the work is done.
The Guaycura project, while small by comparison, represents the kind of block-by-block infrastructure renewal Tijuana needs to reduce chronic sewage failures across the city. First reported by Jornada BC.