California voters approved Proposition 4 last year. It will yield $10 billion to pay for environmental projects and programs.

Of that total, to spend on water quality projects in the polluted Tijuana River, which crosses the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County before meeting the Pacific Ocean, and the New River, which also crosses the border from Mexicali into Imperial County.

That funding, leaders from both areas said Tuesday, would be critical in addressing cross-border pollution that continues to wreak havoc on the people who live and work near the rivers.

San Diego Supervisor Paloma Aguirre flew to Sacramento to ask the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday for the full $50 million. She said the funding would help fix a sewage hot spot in the Tijuana River, an area near

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