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Spring and Sewage Are in the Air Near San Diego

/in , , /by /Eosby Krystal Vasquez

Public health officials have long known that sewage-ladened coastal waters threaten the health of swimmers and surfers. However, new research shows that this common form of water pollution might also pose health risks to those who stay ashore.

Bacteria and pollutants found in sewage-tainted water can be ejected into the atmosphere via sea spray aerosols—tiny droplets that form when waves break—according to a study published in Environmental Science and Technology.

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Recent Storms Sent 7 Billion Gallons of Raw Sewage From Mexico Into U.S., Mayor Says

/in , /by /Fox 5 San Diegoby Salvador Rivera

Imperial Beach’s new mayor, Paloma Aguirre, is dealing with an old problem in her city: beach closures forced by raw sewage from Mexico.

A recent string of powerful storms in the region has forced lots of raw sewage, trash, tires and other debris across the southern border into California.

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New Mayor, New Funding to Deal With Water Pollution at Imperial Beach

/in , , /by /ABC 10 News San Diegoby Perla Shaheen

For more than a decade Imperial Beach has been contaminated with bacteria flowing in from Mexico.

“I don’t feel safe letting my kids go into the water because it’s all polluted, and it’s sad,” said Carla Diaz, a former Imperial Beach resident.

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Three Ways Imperial Beach’s New Mayor Plans to Tackle the Tijuana Sewage Crisis

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Timesby Joshua Emerson Smith

Paloma Aguirre has fought to clean up the sewage-plagued waters of Imperial Beach for the better part of the last two decades — first as an activist and most recently as the city’s first elected woman of Mexican descent. The city’s newly minted mayor says her highest priority next year will be working with officials in Baja California to stem the pollution that routinely spills over the border and floats up the coastline.

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U.S., Mexico Pledge Half a Billion Dollars to Fight Cross-Border Pollution From Tijuana Sewage

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

A nearly half-billion-dollar investment in new sewage treatment facilities in Tijuana could clean up perpetually polluted beaches in San Diego, U.S. and Mexican officials say.

Officials from both countries signed a treaty through the International Boundary and Water Commission that commits to funding new sanitation projects during a ceremony at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve in Imperial Beach on Thursday.

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How Can Imperial Beach Residents Participate in Solutions Against Flooding? This Group Wants to Help

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Tanya Murga

Every year, Imperial Beach residents board up their windows and shovel ocean sand off streets left underwater during high tide.

Researchers have been testing technology that warns the city in time to prepare for the arrival of powerful waves and, most recently, digging groundwater wells to track flooding.

The community can also play a significant role in reducing Imperial Beach’s flooding problems, researchers at San Diego State University said last week. How residents can get involved is what the researchers are hoping to find out.

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Opinion: Summertime Is No Cure for the Environmental Blues

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens

News about the environment rarely is good these days, but a string of grim developments locally, regionally and internationally cast a particular pall over the otherwise sunny arrival of summer.

Beaches from Imperial Beach north to Coronado were closed because of sewage discharges from Tijuana. The Colorado River’s reservoirs are so low that severe water cuts are on the horizon for much of the southwestern United States. And another climate conference, this one in Germany, pretty much went nowhere.

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Will Coronado, Imperial Beach Shorelines Be Closed All Summer? New Testing Reveals Rampant Tijuana Sewage

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

Coronado’s tony seaside community and working-class Imperial Beach could be headed for a major reckoning with the sewage continuing to spilling over the border from Tijuana.

Beach closures that were once thought of as largely a wintertime occurrence now appear poised to become a year-round phenomena in San Diego’s South Bay.

However, that’s not because the cross-border pollution from Baja California’s overtaxed and crumbling wastewater system has dramatically escalated, according to county officials.

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Access to Silver Strand Shoreline’s Water Closed Due to Sewage Contamination

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diego

A water contact closure in Imperial Beach has been extended north to the Silver Strand shoreline, county environmental health officials said Monday.

The existing water contact closure area includes the Tijuana Slough and Imperial Beach shorelines, but has been extended to Silver Strand after testing confirmed water quality in that area does not meet state health standards.

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County Reopens Part of Imperial Beach Shoreline for Water Contact

/in , /by /Times of San Diego

County officials lifted a water contact closure for beaches from the south end of Seacoast Drive through Carnation Avenue in Imperial Beach, they said Saturday. Testing confirmed that water quality along the Imperial Beach shoreline meets state health standards following recent sewage contamination, according to the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality. The shoreline from the international border to the south end of Seacoast Drive, however, will remain closed. Sampling also must confirm that these areas are safe for water contact.

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