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No one is monitoring San Diego’s surface water for hepatitis A, even amid a deadly, human waste-fueled outbreak of the disease that can spread through area waterways.

That’s according to a letter from federal officials to U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, who last month asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take “the immediate steps necessary” to address potential waterborne transmission of the viral liver infection that has killed 18 people and sickened nearly 500 others since November.

With the governor’s signature late Monday (October 9th), $2.1 million in state funding is on its way to the Tijuana River Valley — some of it earmarked to deal with the sewage, trash, and sediment that enters the U.S. along the border. Senate Bill 507 allocates $500,000 to update the feasibility study for capturing, controlling, and treating the waste and water that currently enters the river valley from Mexico. State senator Ben Hueso and assemblyman Todd Gloria promised to seek the funding in May.

As supporters and opponents of a proposed Huntington Beach desalination project gear up for a key meeting before the State Lands Commission, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has weighed in. In a letter to the Commission, the senior senator from California gave her endorsement to the Poseidon Water project, saying it would ” provide potable water to meet documented demand within Orange County.” Feinstein joins a long list of state political and water officials leaders, including former Senate colleague Barbara Boxer, in support of the proposed $1 billion plant to be built by Poseidon Water to provide 50 million gallons per day or enough for 400,000 residents.

In December 2015, during California’s most recent drought, Poseidon Water opened a seawater desalination facility in Carlsbad which has since produced over 22 billion gallons of high-quality, drought-proof drinking water for San Diego County. As a United States senator, much of my work included finding innovative solutions to address climate change which would reduce Californian’s pain in the face of predicted droughts. As such, I supported the Carlsbad project and it pleases me that such a huge majority of Californians support seawater desalination as well.

The Hepatitis A outbreak is an obvious public health emergency, but what is less obvious to some; it’s also an environmental one. As documented by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board, many of the county’s waterways show fecal contamination and the presence of Hepatitis A. According to the board, human waste that originates from homeless encampments along creeks and rivers is a major source of the fecal contamination. Two San Diego City Council members recently wrote a joint letter expressing their concern about the effects of the outdoor camps on the San Diego River.