The beach has been closed for months on end. Polluted water signs are ubiquitous.
There are reports of illness and a stench that keeps people up at night.
A historic surf spot is no longer a popular destination for surfers, save the few who may choose to risk it.
Navy SEAL training has been disrupted.
Border Patrol agents have reported rashes, illnesses — and rubber boots melting.
All this from the sewage and other toxins constantly flowing from the Tijuana River into the ocean off Imperial Beach and the surrounding region.
Horrible as it is, it’s hard not to become inured to this reality if you don’t live there. Pollution has been flowing into the ocean at Imperial Beach for generations, though the situation has become demonstrably worse in recent years. What’s happening is criminal, literally — and the failure to fix it should be.
Fortunately, local public officials, researchers and residents have continued to take action and otherwise make noise to highlight what is truly an environmental disaster and ongoing health threat.
Just this week, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and state legislative committees voted on proposals to gather information about the health risks, attempt to hold some of the polluters accountable, and stop more pollution from fouling the region.
Not long ago, a scientific study found ocean churning off Imperial Beach was sending polluted aerosols into the air.
“I’m getting poisoned slowly, 24 hours a day, because they say that some kind of vapors are coming out of the dirty water,” Fermin Gonzalez, an Imperial Beach resident for most of his life, told NBC San Diego.
“Poisoned.” That’s not an overstatement.
In some ways, there are parallels in dealing with border pollution in San Diego County’s South Bay and worldwide efforts to combat climate change. Both, essentially, have two approaches.
There’s movement toward a long-term, lasting solution: cutting greenhouse gasses to reverse global warming, and pursuit of hundreds of millions of dollars to fix crumbling and inadequate infrastructure on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to reduce pollution.
Then there’s addressing the immediate need: adapting to climate change through land-use decisions and technology to protect people, wildlife and economies, and identifying the health hazards of border pollution in hopes of triggering remedies for those afflicted — and speeding up a permanent fix.
Both situations are long-familiar and the warnings they generate become repetitive. The threats are outrageous, but continually stoking the outrage isn’t easy. Still, it needs to be done. They may be slow-moving crises, but they are disasters nonetheless.
If the impacts of cross-border pollution are well known, so are the sources: the sewage flows from the ever-growing Tijuana metropolis that overwhelm the city’s wastewater system, toxic discharges from border commercial plants and a balky international treatment facility that doesn’t have the capacity to handle it all.
More than $300 million in federal funding has been targeted to upgrade the infrastructure, though that still falls short of the $1 billion estimated cost, a figure that keeps growing. Questions about whether the border treatment plant has been managed properly have made some members of Congress skeptical about further funding.
For the most part, local, state and federal officials from the San Diego region have been unified in seeking an infrastructure resolution, which has been moving forward, albeit slowly. Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom last week again declined to issue an emergency proclamation about the pollution at the behest of San Diego County mayors.
A lot has been happening to bring the health picture into greater focus.
The supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to direct the county Health and Human Services Agency to help examine the health impacts of Tijuana River pollution on residents.
Under the proposal by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, the county will collaborate with an existing task force to collect data to track illnesses related to the pollution.Among other things, the action calls for a community survey on health impacts beyond direct water exposure.
Exposure to polluted water long has been a concern. In 2023, a study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego confirmed a new broader threat — that Tijuana River pollution was fouling the air through sea spray.
In February, a study by San Diego State University called the river pollution an “escalating public health crisis” contaminating the water, air and soil.
In March, the Imperial Beach City Council entered into an agreement with the San Diego Air Pollution Control District to install air monitoring sensors in the area.
This past week, bills related to border pollution by state Sen. Steve Padilla, D-Chula Vista, continued to move through the Legislature.
Senate Bill 1178 would require transnational corporations that conduct business in California to report their discharges that pollute state waters, according to a release from Padilla.
The measure, approved by the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials on Monday, also requires the companies to place a label on products sold in California that says: “Warning: The creation of this product contributed to the contamination of California water quality potentially threatening the health and safety of its residents.”
Companies failing to comply would face fines.
Padilla’s SB 1208, approved by the same committee, would block a landfill planned to be constructed in the Tijuana River watershed.
Finally, his Senate Joint Resolution 18, which calls on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the impacts of cross-border pollution on the health of residents, was approved by the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday.
None of these recent or previous actions and studies, even collectively, provide a solution for the dire threat plaguing the South Bay. Hopefully, they will provide information and add pressure to reach one.
In April, the American Rivers organization named the Tijuana River one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the country.
The only surprise is that it wasn’t at the top of the list.
What they said
Mica Soellner (@MicaSoellnerDC) of Punchbowl News on X.
“Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) on Biden’s debate performance: ‘Well, obviously he was enthusiastic and energetic. I’m kidding.’”
