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Southern California officials plead for help as cross-border sewage crisis poisons air

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Monday, September 9, 2024

Southern California's border-adjacent communities are pushing for emergency assistance from regional and state agencies as they contend with a cross-border sewage crisis that is poisoning the air they breathe. The writers, led by Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, pushed for immediate action to cope with dangerous air pollution impacting area communities, in a Sunday letter sent to officials from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Imperial Beach and its neighbors have for years struggled with an unrelenting, transboundary sewage situation that results from insufficient wastewater treatment on the Mexican side of the border. That fetid flow ends up in San Diego County both via ocean plumes and the Tijuana River Watershed, contaminated with a noxious mix of chemicals and pathogens. Not only have these contaminants caused widespread water contamination and long-term beach closures, but they have also become an airborne public health threat. Just last week, San Diego State University and University of California San Diego professors studying such impacts had to abandon their research due to "concerningly high" levels of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Our families, children, seniors and the immunocompromised are constantly at risk, breathing in harmful toxic gases that no one should have to endure," Aguirre said in a Sunday statement. "We are fighting not just for our health but for our right to clean air and a safe environment." "It is unacceptable that the agencies responsible for protecting our communities continue to drag their feet while we bear the brunt of their inaction," she added. The Sunday letter signatories — local politicians, citizens, health professionals, academics and environmental activists — called upon regional and state agencies to distribute KN-95 masks and air purifiers that are effective in removing both particulate matter and gases in all affected areas. The priority, they stressed, should be on immunocompromised individuals, the elderly, families with young children and schools. While Aguirre acknowledged in her Sunday statement that some efforts had been taken — mentioning 400 filters that had been distributed via lottery — she stressed that such action "is not enough." In their letter, Aguirre and her colleagues also requested calibrated particle and gas monitors to determine the safety of outdoor activities across the region, as well as the placement of advisory signs about the risk of exposure to hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and other toxic gases. At the same time, the writers emphasized the need to stop sharing the Air Pollution Control District's sensor data until the instruments are fully calibrated and generating accurate measurements. Without such a step, the equipment could be leading to "potentially erroneous conclusions" and granting "a false sense of security to the community," according to the writers. Likewise, they demanded the suspension of the community's "Syndromic Surveillance Bulletin" — which highlights local health symptoms — until it includes more thorough clinical data from both the South Bay region and from Tijuana. "The urgency of this situation can not be overstated," they concluded. "We ask for immediate intervention and implementation of these requests by the County Office of Emergency Management, Air Pollution Control District, and Health and Human Services." The Hill has reached out to both Air Pollution Control District Chair Jack Shu and the Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas, to whom the letter was addressed, for comment. The Air Pollution Control District's homepage warns that "inspectors have been documenting strong odors impacting South Bay communities," adding that ongoing extreme heat conditions have exacerbated these issues. "Compounds associated with these odors may cause adverse health effects," the message cautions, advising that residents stay indoors when possible. As for the Board of Supervisors, Vargas described current circumstances as "an emergency" in a post on X on Sunday, noting that "our communities are facing the worst environmental and social justice crisis of our time." "I'm continuously working with federal, state and local partners to secure immediate and long-term solutions that protect the health of our families," she added.

The writers, led by Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, pushed for immediate action to cope with dangerous air pollution impacting area communities, in a Sunday letter sent to officials from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Imperial Beach and its neighbors have for years struggled with an unrelenting, transboundary sewage situation that results from insufficient wastewater treatment on the Mexican side of the border. That fetid flow ends up in San Diego County both via ocean plumes and the Tijuana River Watershed, contaminated with a noxious mix of chemicals and pathogens.

Not only have these contaminants caused widespread water contamination and long-term beach closures, but they have also become an airborne public health threat.

Just last week, San Diego State University and University of California San Diego professors studying such impacts had to abandon their research due to "concerningly high" levels of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"Our families, children, seniors and the immunocompromised are constantly at risk, breathing in harmful toxic gases that no one should have to endure," Aguirre said in a Sunday statement. "We are fighting not just for our health but for our right to clean air and a safe environment."

"It is unacceptable that the agencies responsible for protecting our communities continue to drag their feet while we bear the brunt of their inaction," she added.

The Sunday letter signatories — local politicians, citizens, health professionals, academics and environmental activists — called upon regional and state agencies to distribute KN-95 masks and air purifiers that are effective in removing both particulate matter and gases in all affected areas.

The priority, they stressed, should be on immunocompromised individuals, the elderly, families with young children and schools.

While Aguirre acknowledged in her Sunday statement that some efforts had been taken — mentioning 400 filters that had been distributed via lottery — she stressed that such action "is not enough."

In their letter, Aguirre and her colleagues also requested calibrated particle and gas monitors to determine the safety of outdoor activities across the region, as well as the placement of advisory signs about the risk of exposure to hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and other toxic gases.

At the same time, the writers emphasized the need to stop sharing the Air Pollution Control District's sensor data until the instruments are fully calibrated and generating accurate measurements.

Without such a step, the equipment could be leading to "potentially erroneous conclusions" and granting "a false sense of security to the community," according to the writers.

Likewise, they demanded the suspension of the community's "Syndromic Surveillance Bulletin" — which highlights local health symptoms — until it includes more thorough clinical data from both the South Bay region and from Tijuana.

"The urgency of this situation can not be overstated," they concluded. "We ask for immediate intervention and implementation of these requests by the County Office of Emergency Management, Air Pollution Control District, and Health and Human Services."

The Hill has reached out to both Air Pollution Control District Chair Jack Shu and the Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas, to whom the letter was addressed, for comment.

The Air Pollution Control District's homepage warns that "inspectors have been documenting strong odors impacting South Bay communities," adding that ongoing extreme heat conditions have exacerbated these issues.

"Compounds associated with these odors may cause adverse health effects," the message cautions, advising that residents stay indoors when possible.

As for the Board of Supervisors, Vargas described current circumstances as "an emergency" in a post on X on Sunday, noting that "our communities are facing the worst environmental and social justice crisis of our time."

"I'm continuously working with federal, state and local partners to secure immediate and long-term solutions that protect the health of our families," she added.

Read the full story here.

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The Tijuana River has been polluted for decades, but in recent years, south San Diego residents say the smell — and their respiratory illnesses — has gotten worse.

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — The Tijuana River should not be flowing this time of year. But throughout the dry season, it has — delivering millions of gallons a day of an unnatural mix of water, neon green sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana through the city of Imperial Beach to the Pacific Ocean. This 4.4-square-mile beach town of 27,000 largely working-class and Latino residents, sitting just south of San Diego, is appealingly affordable. But it also bears the brunt of Tijuana’s population boom.Its beaches just reopened last weekend, after having been closed for more than 1,000 days because of ocean bacteria levels that are a hundred times higher than safe amounts. The stench of rotting eggs after dark is overwhelming for south San Diego residents, keeping some awake all night. A family with a small child sits on the sand next to the Imperial Beach Pier. In the distance a yellow sign warns beachgoers to stay out of the water. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) Pollution in the river has been an entrenched environmental crisis for decades, with all sides pointing fingers at one another. Residents blame politicians for failing to find a solution. Local politicians blame Congress for not funding improvements in the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which processes raw sewage from Tijuana. The federal government blames Mexico for lax sewage regulations. The International Boundary and Water Commission says it’s not its job to collect the wastewater from unknown sources that flows into the Tijuana River. Complicating matters further: Researchers and county officials are sharply split on whether the stench is simply a nuisance or a danger to public health. Some help is on the way, potentially. Mexico’s new wastewater treatment plant is set to open this month, and there are plans to double the capacity of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, although that project will take five years. Ángel Granados points at the pollution in the Tijuana River under Hollister Street. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) Meanwhile, residents and the mayor of Imperial Beach say they are plagued with unexplained and more acute illnesses. A persistent cough that wouldn’t disappear. Wheezing in the chest. Migraines and headaches. Stuffy sinuses with an acidic burn in the eyes. Nausea. Diarrhea. And they worry about worse effects on their children. Jeffrey Jackson, who’s lived along the ocean in Imperial Beach for 25 years, said the air “is getting me sick ... it’s stuff in my lungs.” He’s had to clear his lungs in the middle of the night constantly, and his daughter caught pneumonia twice this summer. “I have toilet paper underneath my pillow so I can spit.”Drs. Matt and Kimberly Dickson knew something was awry as well. As residents of Imperial Beach, they were used to treating surfers at the South Bay Urgent Care Center sickened by E. coli and other bacteria after defying beach advisories to stay out of the water. But after Hurricane Hillary and the atmospheric rivers of February, they noticed more patients arriving at their doors with similar symptoms — diarrhea, viral infections, vomiting, stomachaches — who hadn’t touched the contaminated water. Ramon Chairez crouches above a pipe channeling fluids from the Tijuana River, which should be dry during this time of year. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) The Dicksons tried to raise alarms to San Diego County’s public health officials, but ultimately the county decided there was no direct correlation between the flood of sewage that poured into the river and the ailments that residents developed.Frustrated, the Dicksons contend that the public health response has been slow because people are just becoming violently ill, not dying. “I feel like the patients down here are being treated like the canary in the coal mine,” Matt Dickson said. County health officials didn’t respond to a request for comment about health concerns in the Tijuana River Valley. Kimberly Prather, the director of the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Geography, was not so quick to dismiss the doctors’ concerns. Her previous research had shown that bacterial microbes could become airborne pathogens in sea spray. Now she wanted to prove that the polluted water was also polluting the air. David Jarma, a field researcher from the University of Texas at Austin, takes dust samples from a patio in Imperial Beach. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) In August, Prather joined forces with other researchers, including San Diego State University’s Paula Granados, an expert in cross-border pollution, to perform one of the largest studies ever jointly conducted on the Tijuana River Valley. The researchers started pulling samples from the air, river mouth, groundwater, soil and even the green beans grown in a local community garden to check for pollutants after they found concerning levels of hydrogen sulfide — upward of 30 parts per million — and hydrogen cyanide near the Tijuana River. (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration limits exposure for industrial workers to 20 parts per million.)But the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District conducted its own studies, which found less pollution — 0 to 16 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide in Imperial Beach, along with safe levels of hydrogen cyanide. Supervisor Nora Vargas’ office said in an email that “there is no imminent threat to public health from hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen sulfide.” Nevertheless, her office also passed out 400 free air purifiers to community members in the South Bay to help alleviate the smell.The EPA, the California Department of Public Health and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office have all said that the hydrogen sulfide is a nuisance but doesn’t pose any immediate risk for residents. “It’s not a situation where you’re accumulating a bunch of the toxin into your body and it’s causing damages to your organs,” said Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a medical toxicologist with the California Department of Public Health, though he did concede that even temporary symptoms over long periods of time could degrade a resident’s quality of life. “These problems generally are not permanent problems. They can become persistent problems if you continue to experience the odors.” Eric Biggs walks his horse on Saturn Boulevard where it passes over the Tijuana River, a spot frequently traversed by local residents. “Look, take a deep breath” is written in chalk on the asphalt, with an arrow pointing to the riverbed. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) Prather argued that county and state officials fail to understand the severity of the situation, saying, “Just based on gases alone, this is a toxic pit.”Her research still needs to be peer reviewed, but Prather said she’s confident her work is on the verge of finding proof that bacteria in the water are becoming aerosolized and making people sick. The results should also confirm a direct correlation between the increase in sewage flow in the Tijuana River and higher rates of airborne hydrogen sulfide and health complaints, she said. There have been very few studies on the long-term effects of hydrogen sulfide exposure in human populations because testing on people would be unethical. Rangan said that there aren’t data yet on whether pathogens in the Tijuana River can be aerosolized and affect residents but that the state health department is working with doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do more research. Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre wears a mask while standing on Hollister Street, where the sewage underneath the bridge has turned the water black. Aguirre went to the emergency room fearing she was having a heart attack and was told she had lung inflammation. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) Meanwhile, the Dicksons have been joined by other doctors who are concerned as well. Prather’s work has identified a hot spot around Saturn Boulevard where more than half a dozen schools are located in a 1.5-mile radius around the river. San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air has called on public officials to take precautionary measures to protect children, who breathe more rapidly, have a larger lung-to-body-mass ratio and would be more vulnerable to hydrogen sulfide poisoning. Hydrogen sulfide exposure has neurological effects as well, including memory loss, fatigue and loss of balance. More than half a dozen schools are within 1.5 miles of a hotspot for noxious odors emanating from the Tijuana River. (Courtesy of Kimberly Prather) Perla Rosales, an Imperial Beach resident who works as an executive assistant for California Quality Drywall Services, has two children, 11 and 4 years old, in the South Bay Union School District. Her younger child, Azariel, has been suffering from a persistent cough at school. “The school called me to ask if he had asthma because he was coughing a lot,” Rosales said. During last week’s heat wave, SBUSD informed parents that all outdoor activities were canceled, physical education classes and recess were moved indoors, and air scrubbers were on all day. “[His] teacher told me she had a lot of students sick in the last weeks,” she added. Rosales lived in Tijuana three years ago with her family but had never smelled the river like this before. Knowing that her son has been exposed to hydrogen sulfide has her worried about his cough “because he usually is a healthy boy.”Over the years, residents have seen the ecosystem change into an unrecognizable landscape — once clear ponds stocked with fish are now gray cesspools filled with white foam that is visible even in Google’s satellite images. Surfers have seen dead birds and occasionally dead dolphins washed ashore. Residents still fish every day off the Imperial Beach pier for food, unaware that heavy metals have been found in the ocean. A satellite image from Google shows white foam next to Saturn Boulevard where it passes over the Tijuana River. (Google) Marvel Harrison, who sits on Imperial Beach’s Tijuana River Pollution Task Force, lives on the beach next to the Imperial Beach Pier with her husband. She has become the reluctant lead plaintiff of a new class-action lawsuit against Veolia Water North America, the private company running the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. Filed on Jan. 6, the lawsuit claims that Veolia’s failure to address pollution at the beach depreciated the value of residents’ properties and prevented them from enjoying the ocean. The suit seeks $300 million in damages, but Harrison said the goal is to bring attention to the environmental crisis, not to collect a huge check. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) Harrison — who saved up enough money with her husband, a former pediatrician, to build a $3-million home — understands she’s part of a wealthy minority in her town. “The people of privilege are the ones that are using their voice in a respectful way to give voice to people who haven’t had it,” the 67-year-old former counseling psychologist said. “It’s not like anybody can just get up and move to a different part of town or buy a house or buy themselves an AC unit,” Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre said. “These are working families. There’s many of them, paycheck to paycheck, so that’s why we need help.”In 2021, thousands of Los Angeles County residents living near the Dominguez Channel received vouchers to relocate after a warehouse fire caused a hydrogen sulfide stink. Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego) is one of the local representatives who’s written to Newsom twice, asking for a state of emergency. He believe it could help with short-term solutions, like temporarily relocating his constituents.“You never recover if this happens every single day,” Alvarez said of the smell that he said has become progressively worse since his time as a San Diego City Council member. But he said the federal government has its role to play as well in cleaning up the riverbed. “This is going to require a tremendous amount of remediation, and something like a Superfund [site designation], I believe, is appropriate.” Paula Granados tests the groundwater at Gabriel Uribe’s property, where Uribe’s dogs have been throwing up and his horses have been losing weight. (Jireh Deng / Los Angeles Times) Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Reps. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) and Scott Peters (D-San Diego) just announced a renewed effort to pass the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act, which Vargas and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein also introduced in the last two Congresses. As for the state agencies that continue to say the air is safe for residents to breathe, the Dicksons encourage public officials to stay overnight and experience what the people in Imperial Beach experience.“It’s not just a nuisance smell. It’s not just an odor. Your eyes burn, hurts to breathe, you get a sore throat. You’re vomiting,” Kimberly Dickson said. “If [Newsom] were to come down here and spend one night at the home of one of our residents that lived by the river that’s exposed to hydrogen sulfide for 24 hours, he probably would declare a state of emergency.”

Crisis

Education

Food

Suggested Viewing

Allergy Alert: Paranoia in Our Immune System

From peanuts and pollen to cats and dust mites, allergy rates are soaring dramatically all over the globe, with inoffensive substances triggering life-threatening physical responses. Experts are predicting that by 2050, one in two will suffer from an allergy. Why are our immune systems overreacting in this way? To stem the tide of the epidemic, scientists are investigating the interface between genetics, environmental factors and our modern lifestyle, and developing revolutionary new approaches to prevention and treatment.

Science

Crisis

Health

Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse

A documentary that examines the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Three decades after the world's most infamous nuclear disaster, illegal hiking adventurers (known as “stalkers”), extreme sports aficionados, artists, and tour companies have begun to explore anew the mysterious, ghostly landscape, where trees and forest animals have reclaimed land abandoned by villagers. Even as survivors continue to reckon with a dishonest government’s attempts to cover up the extent of the disaster, and as humanity faces new nuclear incidents in place like Fukushima, the Chernobyl site has turned into a bizarre tourist attraction, drawing seekers with a taste for the post-apocalyptic. (a Cultures Of Resistance film)

Crisis

Culture

Pollution

The Story of Plastic

A searing expose uncovering the ugly truth behind the global plastic pollution crisis. Striking footage shot over three continents illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash; rivers and seas clogged with waste; and skies choked with poisons from plastic production and recycling processes with no end in sight. Original animations, interviews with experts and activists, and never-before-filmed scenes reveal the disastrous consequences of the plastic flood around the world – and the global movement rising up in response.

Chemicals

Pollution

Crisis

A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity

A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity is a feature-length documentary that follows a community in Australia who came together to explore and demonstrate a simpler way to live in response to global crises. Throughout the year the group built tiny houses, planted veggie gardens, practised simple living, and learned how to live in community. This film is the product of hours and hours of footage that I shot during that year-long experiment in simple living.

Culture

Crisis

Documentary

The Kodiak Queen

Richard Branson had a decorated WWII warship that survived Pearl Harbor taken to the British Virgin Islands to be turned into an artificial reef and dive site to inspire a generation of ocean lovers. But the project became a part of something much bigger when Hurricane Irma struck the Caribbean and Florida Keys on September 6, 2017. Irma caused unimaginable destruction and devastated thousands of lives. In this haunting film, the award-winning Sorrenti and Academy Award winner Kate Winslet describe the momentous task of restoring the British Virgin Islands.

Water

Crisis

Conservation

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Southern California officials plead for help as cross-border sewage crisis poisons air

Related News

The Great Mediterranean Drain: How 70% of Its Water Vanished in a Geological Crisis

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Suggested Viewing

Allergy Alert: Paranoia in Our Immune System

Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse

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sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

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