The Tijuana River has been plagued with raw sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana for decades, fouling beaches along the U.S.-Mexico border with polluted water and sending foul odors drifting through communities in San Diego County.
On Wednesday, the environmental group American Rivers ranked the Tijuana River No. 2 on its annual list of the nation’s most endangered rivers, up from No. 9 on the list last year. The group said it elevated the river on the list, right behind the first-ranked Mississippi River, to bring greater attention to the waterway’s chronic pollution problems and the lack of action to clean it up.
Activists with another group, Surfrider Foundation, are also circulating a petition calling for President Trump to declare a national emergency to expedite efforts to curb the flow of untreated sewage and clean up the river.
Kevin Hogan, a resident of the Tijuana River Valley, explains why the Tijuana River is unable to flow due to over growth of vegetation while next to Dairy Mart Road in San Diego.
(Hayne Palmour IV/For The Times)
“The Tijuana River has moved from just being a pollution problem to being a public health crisis. Elevating the Tijuana River on our most endangered rivers list reflects that urgency,” said Ann Willis, American Rivers’ California regional director. “What we need urgently is for the Trump administration to make a federal emergency declaration. This would free up funding to address some of the right-now problems.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin responded to the announcement of the river’s ranking in an emailed statement, saying “the raw sewage flowing from Mexico into the Tijuana River is creating serious, detrimental issues for communities with affected waterways.”
“Ensuring America’s waters are clean is part of EPA’s core mission, and I look forward to being on the ground in San Diego in a few days to assess the situation and hear directly from those affected,” Zeldin said. “It is top of mind knowing that as this issue persists, more and more Navy SEALs remain at risk of sickness because of the contaminated waterways they train in. I strongly believe the time has come to finalize and implement an urgent strategy to end decades of raw sewage entering the U.S.”
In addition to more funding from the U.S. government to repair and maintain sewage treatment facilities that regularly break down, the environmental groups called for Mexico to take additional steps to fix sewage leaks and make other improvements on its side of the border.
They noted that Mexico has made progress in recent years. Tijuana recently completed construction of a new sewage treatment plant in the area of San Antonio de los Buenos, a project that is part of a larger infrastructure plan developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We need both federal governments to step up and do more,” said Sarah Davidson, manager of Surfrider’s Clean Border Water Now program. “It will require cooperation across the border. It will require diplomacy and long-term funding from both governments, so it’s necessary to find those avenues to work with the Mexican government as well.”
With a spray painted message on the road, Tijuana River Valley resident Derek Spencer, who grew up in the area, stands next to where the Tijuana River flows with foam forming water next to Saturn Boulevard in San Diego.
(Hayne Palmour IV/For The Times)
Willis said funding from the U.S. government is needed to fix the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant north of the border, which handles sewage from Tijuana and is in disrepair, as well as measures such as pollution monitoring and health studies in communities near the river.
“Pollution from the Tijuana River is carried not just in the river itself, but it moves into the air when the river flows into the ocean, and the ocean spray turns the pollution into an aerosol,” Willis said. “This is creating a public health crisis, not just for local communities, but also our military.”
A park trial sign at the Tijuana River Valley in San Diego.
(Hayne Palmour IV/For The Times)
The environmental group cited a recent report from the Department of Defense showing that about 1,100 cases of illnesses were reported among Navy SEALS and other service members who were exposed to high levels of bacteria when they trained in and around the ocean near the border.
The Tijuana River flows 120 miles, starting in Baja California and crossing into Southern California, then reaching the Pacific Ocean in Imperial Beach. Beaches near the river mouth and the sewage treatment plant outfall have regularly been closed because of high levels of bacteria in the ocean.
Residents have also raised concerns about the potential health effects of high levels of hydrogen sulfide and other gases and vapors emanating from the river.
“This is one of the largest ongoing public health and environmental justice crises in our country,” Davidson said. “It’s similar to other environmental catastrophes, like the water crisis in Flint, Mich., and elsewhere, and we really just need more awareness, more pressure, more prioritization in our federal government to get the funding on the issue that we require for solutions.”
As they held a news conference by the river Wednesday, Davidson and others wore respirators to protect themselves from the air pollution.
“It really is impacting every aspect of community life for those communities in and near the Tijuana River Valley,” Davidson said. “So it’s a pretty desperate situation, and we really just need all of the help we can get from everyone at every level of government.”
