SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The County of San Diego is set to gather data to determine the health impacts on residents who are exposed to airborne contaminants originating from untreated sewage that flows in from Mexico.
A study conducted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego has determined that sewage-born bacteria can make its way into the air as the sewage is churned and broken down by the surf.
According to the study, the pollution can be “aerosolized by ocean waves, potentially exposing unsuspecting people further inland.”
County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer says it’s time to figure out how many residents are being impacted by bacteria in the air.
She wants to study the number of people who are getting sick by ZIP code.
Lawson-Remer believes it’s not just residents who live near or along the Tijuana River Valley where most of the untreated sewage enters the U.S. before flowing out into the ocean.
“Our county has been leading the fight in partnership with our local cities to clean up the Tijuana River sewage crisis,” she said. “We’ve been demanding the state and federal government take action to protect public health and clean up local beaches, and that has yielded some financial investments for improvements, it reinforces our commitment to protecting our beaches, bays and coastline.”
Lawson-Remer wants to implement the following measures to determine how bad the problem is:
- Launching a first-of-its-kind Community Health Survey examining health impacts beyond direct water exposure
- Development of a Tijuana River Public Health Risk Dashboard
- Development of a local decontamination protocols for sewage contaminated floodwaters
- Develop and Collaborate with a task force made up of the City of Imperial Beach, San Diego State University School of Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine, and other stakeholders, to develop a list of data sources that can support tracking sewage-associated non-reportable diseases.
- Requesting ZIP-code level data from California Breathing Program.
- Enhanced communication with other agencies to increase surveillance and testing under their purview, including San Diego Regional Water Control Board, Air Pollution Control District, CDPH, and CDC.
- Pursuing additional funding and support to assess economic and public health impacts of the sewage crisis.
Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, whose city is the most impacted community north of the border, applauded the news.
“Over 135 billion gallons of untreated sewage have flowed into the Pacific Ocean, leading to over 900 consecutive days of beach closures,” said Aguirre. “It is a profound public health crisis that has affected every asset of life in our community.”
Aguirre says she expects the data to be gathered over the course of a year.
The information will help local lawmakers like herself and Lawson-Remer make a pitch for funding to help pay for sewage mitigation projects along the Tijuana River Valley.
In June 2023, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency in response to the transboundary sewage flows.
The board also asked California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden to issue similar declarations that would clear the way for federal money to be spent on the sewage problem.