On September 6, several beaches near the US-Mexico border in San Diego County were closed again due to excessive levels of sea bacteria. Among them is Imperial Beach, which has been closed for over a thousand days consecutively. Untreated sewage from the Mexican border city flows into San Diego through the rivers that cross the US-Mexico border, overwhelming sewage treatment plants and leading to a significant amount of untreated sewage entering the ocean, causing frequent closures of local beaches.
Imperial Beach, located in the southern county of San Diego in the city of Imperial Beach, has been closed since December 8, 2021, due to consistently high levels of bacteria in the seawater. As of September 3, it has been closed for a total of 1000 days and remains closed. While people can visit the beach, they are warned not to touch the seawater. Signs warning “Do Not Touch the Seawater” have been standing on the sands for nearly three years.
Officials estimate that approximately 100 billion gallons of untreated harmful sewage, carrying garbage, have flowed from the Mexican city of Tijuana through the Tijuana River into the coast of San Diego over the past five years. During the rainy season, more sewage enters San Diego with the heavy rainfall, leading to further ocean water pollution and beach closures exceeding safety levels. However, the latest beach closure occurred during a heatwave without rain.
The nonprofit organization San Diego CoastalKeeper stated that sewage coming from Mexico has been polluting the waters in San Diego for decades, but it has become increasingly severe in recent years due to rapid population growth in Tijuana, a substantial increase in border immigration, and malfunctions in the overloaded sewage treatment plants within the United States.
The Tijuana River crosses the US-Mexico border, with 75% of its waterway in Tijuana, Mexico. The pollution of the seawater also affects the Navy SEALs stationed and trained in San Diego, forcing them to change training locations.
Since last year and particularly this year, the federal government and representatives of the California state Congress have been actively addressing the sewage problem. They have secured over $500 million in federal funding for sewage treatment and officially labeled the issue as the “Tijuana River Pollution Crisis.”
Federal Senator Alex Padilla of California, along with congress members representing San Diego Scott Peters and Juan Vargas, announced on September 5 that they will reintroduce legislation that was not passed in 2019 to address the sewage crisis from Tijuana, Mexico. This legislation, previously proposed by the late Senator Diane Feinstein in 2019, aims to facilitate the resolution of the Tijuana sewage crisis.
Senator Padilla expressed outrage at the untreated sewage and toxic waste causing public beach closures in 2024, polluting the air and posing threats to the health of families, military personnel, and border residents. He emphasized the importance of passing legislation to assign the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to spearhead the coordination between federal, state, and local governments in addressing the Tijuana River pollution crisis. He acknowledged that solving the pollution problem will take time, hoping to see significant improvements by next summer.
Legislators also mentioned their plans to engage in further cooperation and negotiations with the Mexican government to increase the handling of sewage from Tijuana. In addition to water pollution, residents of Imperial Beach and the San Diego border area have voiced complaints about foul odors in the air, emanating from sewage and garbage.