The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission issued a revised $552 million award to PCL Construction on Oct. 13 for primary treatment work at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, the plant meant to stop Tijuana sewage from reaching U.S. beaches. The award moves the job into heavy civil work. It doesn’t pay for the part of the plant that cleans the water the rest of the way.
ENR reported the revised award on Oct. 16. The $552 million sits inside the roughly $600 million the commission put on the whole program when it picked the PCL team in 2024, but it excludes secondary treatment.
What the South Bay plant contract covers
PCL is running the job as progressive design-builder, with Stantec leading design. The early works list reads like a building rehab: roof replacement, process equipment and piping, electrical gear, odor control media, window sealants, coiling doors, safety showers and coatings.
The primary treatment package is the bigger piece. It adds a new integrated headworks, a chemical system, two more primary sedimentation tanks, sludge thickening and storage, and a 12-kV electrical building with switchgear and transformers.
PCL will self-perform the mechanical work and some ancillary buildings. Morley Construction holds the large concrete package, Southern Contracting has electrical and Technical Systems Inc. is the controls integrator. Long-lead equipment is already bought, and shoring, dewatering and excavation were due to start within weeks of the award.
The schedule runs 1,643 days. PCL operations manager Jeff Newman put substantial completion at May 2031, with facilities coming online as they’re finished.
The wastewater treatment funding gap
Secondary treatment is where the plan comes up short. That scope includes 10 new secondary sedimentation tanks and seven activated sludge tanks, and IBWC spokesman Frank Fisher said the commission needs more money before it can award it.
That matters because the plant’s purpose is a permit, not a building. When the PCL team was selected, the plant was out of compliance with its Clean Water Act discharge permit. The program’s goal is to double average capacity from 25 million to 50 million gallons a day, with 75 million gallons of peak flow, according to PCL’s 2024 announcement. More primary capacity with no matching secondary process gets more flow through the headworks. It doesn’t get the full treatment the permit calls for.
What it means for Southern California subcontractors
For the trades, this is a well-defined package with long-lead gear already bought and a five-year runway. Morley and Southern Contracting have the two packages most exposed to labor availability, and the concrete scope on tank work this size will tie up finishers and formwork crews for years.
The risk sits with the owner. Progressive design-build lets the commission release work as money arrives, which is why PCL could start digging before the second phase was funded. It also means secondary treatment will be priced later, in a market where construction input costs rose 11.9% in the year through September. Water owners on the West Coast are working through the same problem. Lake Oswego, Oregon, is replacing its plant too (see our project listing).
The number to watch is the gap between $552 million and the eventual secondary award. With a 2031 finish on primary, every year that scope waits is another year the plant runs short of its permit.