IB will get the sewage, Navy will pay

A fight between two coastal cities over sewage from the US Navy base in between has ended in a settlement where the sewage is recognized as Coronado crap while it runs through IB pipes — paid for by the Navy.

Each city has an acute interest in the wastewater expected to come from the Navy's $800 million Special Warfare Command campus that is being developed on the east side of the Silver Strand and is expected to serve as a home for about 3,300 sailors and support personnel and generate about 110,000 gallons of wastewater a day, according to Navy documents.

The new facility will house SEAL teams and their support units and will be located at south end of Coronado's Silver Strand, next to Imperial Beach.

The Navy has agreed to construct a new, high-volume sewer line from the campus down through Imperial Beach. That line may well save IB from paying for the upgrade to existing lines that will become necessary as a result of two new hotels and the development of more than 100 condos and townhouses on the site of a former RV park.

Coronado is developing its own water reclamation plant, and in January the city council voted to hire engineering consultants to begin thinking through designs for the plant.

The two cities agreed that IB will charge Coronado a fair price to move the sewage, and that Coronado can divert the wastewater if it chooses to. If the Navy needs to move more than what the infrastructure can handle, the Navy agreed to meet with Coronado to design plans to get the sewage to Coronado.

Calls and emails for comment to the Navy, Coronado, and IB were not returned Friday — Imperial Beach city offices are closed every other Friday. The settlement must be approved by both city councils before it becomes effective. A source in IB government indicated that he expects it to be approved.