In front of Imperial Beach’s deserted shoreline dotted with red “warning” signs, members of San Diego’s legislative delegation announced Friday that $3 million from the state budget will fund a new model aimed at more accurately predicting sewage contamination days in advance at South County beaches.
The new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement reached Tuesday commits the federal government to provide $300 million for the Border Water Infrastructure Program to address pollution on the U.S.-Mexico border, including the Tijuana River Valley region, where millions of gallons of raw sewage, heavy metals and other contaminants regularly flow from Tijuana to San Diego.
The funding likely represents the most significant federal commitment to the problem in decades, elected officials said.
County environmental health officials expanded their ongoing closure of coastal waters Friday to include the Silver Strand shoreline due to sewage-contaminated water.
The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health first issued a water-contact closure Thursday between the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge and Border Field State Park after rainfall this week caused contaminated water in the Tijuana River to flow into U.S. waterways.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
