A handful of protesters marched outside the Mexican Consulate in Little Italy, protesting cross border sewage flows. They want Mexico to do more to fix the problem.
Polluted water has routinely flowed from Mexico into the United States since December.
“We feel like we’re not getting heard,” said Mitch McKay, president of Citizens for Coastal Conservancy. “As you see here on my sign, we’re over 39 billion gallons of effluent crossing into the U.S. in the last 18 months alone. People have been talking about how this has been going on for decades and decades. Well the last decade, even the last five years, it’s been unacceptable.”
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Several municipalities, state regulators and a clean water group sued the U.S. federal government to stop the flows on this side of the border.
Those lawsuits are on hold because there is a chance a diversion project will get U.S. federal funding soon. But there are persistent calls for Mexico to help as well.
“There have been massive flows at all times, according to all of the reports we’re getting,” said Amy Sutton, a San Diego resident. “Anywhere from 30 million to 50 million gallons a day now coming in through Mexico into our country and going to the ocean. It’s unbelievable that nobody thinks that this is not a crisis.”
Mexico has had a series of drain clogs and pump failures that allowed the cross-border flows to run unchecked this year.
Mexican officials at the consulate had no comment, saying questions should be referred to federal officials in Mexico City.
