Add The California Post on Google San Diego is done waiting for Mexico to fix its sewage nightmare.
County supervisors voted this week to pursue a new sewage treatment system on the US side of the border, aiming to stop polluted water from the Tijuana River before it reaches San Diego communities and beaches.
The plan, spearheaded by Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, would be developed in three phases, with the county spending $1.8 million to study potential treatment systems over the next year and a half.
“We’ll keep working with Washington and Mexico, but we will set the pace and we won’t wait on anyone else’s timeline,” Aguirre said of Tuesday’s vote.
The need is painfully visible — and sometimes downright nauseating.
Millions of gallons of sewage-contaminated water can pour across the border, foul the Tijuana River and ultimately wash into the Pacific. Beach closures have reached as far north as Coronado, one of San Diego’s most popular seaside destinations.
Video posted by TV personality Chef Andrew Gruel previously showed murky yellow-green water washing onto Coronado’s normally packed summer beach.
“This is Coronado currently,” it read. “High tourist season. High heat of summer. No beach access.”
The pollution isn’t just an eyesore. Researchers have found that sewage-related contaminants can become airborne, while hydrogen sulfide — the gas notorious for its rotten-egg smell — has reached 4,500 times higher than typical urban levels near one South Bay hotspot.
County officials have even offered eligible households free air purifiers to help residents deal with odors and reduce exposure to the gas, according to NBC.
The new system would provide another line of defense after existing treatment and diversion infrastructure fails to capture everything.
“After 60 years, that is the gap that has no solution: the U.S. side of the Tijuana River is not treated at all,” Aguirre and Lawson-Remer said in a county board letter.
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“Once sewage and toxic runoff are in the river, nothing protects our coastlines and communities from the impacts.”
Supervisor Joel Anderson cast the lone vote against the plan, warning the project could become a multibillion-dollar undertaking.
“That could lead to billions,” he said. “The county just doesn’t have that kind of money. And it shouldn’t be the county’s responsibility. The state and the feds and everybody else should be involved.”
Supervisor Jim Desmond agreed that Mexico ultimately needs to solve the problem, saying he wants to “see Mexico stand up and fix this issue,” but added that San Diego should “at least plan for the worst-case scenario.”
Aguirre, whose district includes communities impacted by the pollution, said residents have heard promises for decades.
“After 60 years of promises regarding the issue, the skepticism in my community is not just understandable, it has been earned,” NBC reported.
Lawson-Remer put it more bluntly: “The time has come to end this environmental injustice.”
