Several efforts are underway to address the decades-long Tijuana River sewage crisis: wastewater treatment fixes on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, air purifiers for impacted households and federal investigations into public health impacts of the pollution.
San Diego County leaders agreed on Tuesday that more can be done now at the county level.
The Board of Supervisors directed county staff to study the potential health consequences of long-term exposure to cross-border pollution and dive deep into the economic losses caused by beach closures, odors and other sewage-related impacts.
Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, whose District 1 includes the affected South County communities, proposed the efforts, many of which she called for in recent years while serving as Imperial Beach’s mayor and promised to fast-track as supervisor.
“To fully understand the scale of this crisis and more importantly to take effective action we must ground our decisions in rigorous science and evidence-based data,” she said Tuesday.
The county will also assess how to fix a Tijuana River hot spot, an area near homes and schools where scientists recently confirmed is the largest source of toxic gases and chemicals tied to waste spilling from Mexico.
Aguirre’s predecessor, former county Supervisor Nora Vargas, had a vision to transform part of the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park into a binational destination. Dubbed the “Gateway to the Californias,” the site would be home to a new sports complex, community green space and small business hub. Moving forward with the project without clearing the river valley of pollution seems premature, Aguirre has argued. So, the county will now use $270,000 it had set aside to design the Gateway project to figure out how to address the hot spot.
“We’re not going to build a brick-and-mortar building in the middle of the floodplain in the middle of a public health crisis,” Aguirre said. “What we’re going to do is use that money to remove one of the primary sources of gases to us.”
The board also agreed to use about $100,000 for advocacy services to help the county inform legislators in Washington, D.C. about conditions in the Tijuana River and push for federal investments. The funds may come from a county arts and culture staff position that has been vacant. But county staff may look for other funding sources.
Additionally, the county will request the help of state lawmakers to encourage the state Water Resources Control Board to use $50 million reserved for cross-border rivers for “projects aimed at addressing the ongoing environmental and public health crises” in areas around the Tijuana River.
The public health and economic studies would mark significant county-led responses following previous efforts that some critics say have fallen short of providing relief to South County residents.
One of those efforts was a county survey published in early 2024 that hinted at the economic impacts the sewage crisis is having on small businesses. Responses from about 60 businesses indicated that several lost at least $100,000 in annual revenue, some laid off employees and most said they would have trouble staying in business if conditions did not improve. The report concluded that a “full scope of economic impacts” was necessary, but it was not followed up on. It also mentioned that grant opportunities businesses could receive as short-term relief would be sought, but it's unclear whether any were ever found.
The county had also enlisted the help of state and federal public health agencies to understand how the sewage crisis had affected people’s quality of life, including their health. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed after conducting several door-to-door interviews with South County residents that people living and working near the Tijuana River Valley are experiencing new or worsening health symptoms associated with sewage pollution.
But researchers, doctors and elected officials, including Aguirre, have called for a more robust public health study that could guide medical interventions, particularly for children.
The CDC’s survey, known as a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER), was a tool the federal agency used to quickly gather household-level data that could guide emergency response decisions. Unlike epidemiological studies, CASPERs are relatively inexpensive and do not investigate the causes and determinants of a disease or condition.
Paula Stigler Granados is a San Diego State University researcher studying the polluted river’s threat to public health. At a press conference Aguirre held Monday to preview her proposals, Stigler Granados said that “a well-designed epidemiological study” is needed “to develop the solutions this crisis demands.”
“No families should have to live with toxic gases,” she added. “People shouldn’t have to work in a polluted environment. Their kids are getting sick. We have the evidence. We need interventions to help this to stop and to understand the long-term impacts.”
At a future meeting, a county subcommittee will recommend to the county board what type of epidemiological study is needed and what it might cost.
