Border Surf Contest Aims To Raise Awareness About Ocean Pollution

San Diego and are familiar with the warnings whenever there is significant rainfall there are beach closures affecting coastal waters in the South Bay. Polluted runoff makes bacterial levels high for surfers and other beachgoers but now surfers are fighting back. They will PA contest. The competition is meant to raise awareness about the issues of ocean pollution at the border. Joining me is Roger Kube . Also Jose Sariñana with the surfer foundation and Baja . There are all kinds of surfing competitions in San Diego but this is the first by national Pro-Am It is a first when that's happening simultaneously. A group of us including José were looking for to put on an event. Something different that would bring greater awareness to the issues in the border region and we decided let's do a Pro-Am surf competition. We have between 40 and 50 signed up. We are expecting between 60 and 80. The same thing we are expecting about 50 people will be in the competition. There will be a lot of spectators on both sides. The surfing community and they joined a lot. So Roger, what can you tell us about the source of the pollution near the shoreline at the border and how that is affecting swimmers and surfers? The issues of the border really range from three major factors waste issues and water quality. The border region as we all know is heavily populated on both sides of the border. The USA and Mexico government signed a treaty back in 19 44 to demonstrate and show -- share responsibilities on issues at the border including water quality. The water quality issues that we see down in the border region typically are sewage flow. Most of it occurs when it rains. During rain offense, the capacity that some of the pump station in Tijuana has. They can't handle the flow of sewage with the water in rainfall and diverted into the Tijuana River Valley. So it's a infrastructure issue. The cause of some of the water quality issues. It is a shared problem so it requires a shared solution. I wonder what surfrider Bahah is doing to raise awareness and to kind of track what's going on in terms of ocean pollution South of the border. We have two big issues. One is the Tijuana river and the other one is the plant that's not working properly. So we talk with you generations. This summer we had meetings with the environmentalist. Other than that we do beach cleanups and all of those things. Last year I remember scientist died the ocean pink to track pollution. It was a great study done and it showed how the ocean pollution moves during certain swells. During that timeframe, I think there was South swells. So the Dye experimentation they determine how far and how quickly that pollution moves up the coast. I understand Border Field State Park is close to swimmers more than half of the year because of water quality issues. What we do to ensure that the water is safe for the people participating in the contest was That is a great question. We've been planning for rain because it will ruin the water quality. So far so good to ensure the water quality is good both in Mexico and the US, we have agencies and nonprofits that are doing water quality testing that started. It is occurring almost every day prior to the contest. So local and nonprofits is helping us with water quality testing and also the city of San Diego and also the county Department of Health is also doing water quality testing and then the Mexico nonprofit. So we field good of to this point the water quality is much better than what's the minimum needed in order for the county department to have something safe to swim in. So far you have it covered. It is typically the Border Field State Park -- the Border Field State Park is close sometimes due to issues. With the lack of rain the water quality stays much better. The surf the border Trent 37 -- Pro-Am is this weekend. I've been speaking with Roger Kube and Jose Sariñana. Thank you so much.