S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On this episode , the region is coping with another day of extreme heat. We'll tell you how long it will last and how to stay safe , then how the heat is exacerbating contamination along beaches and other waterways. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. San Diego is enduring another day of dangerous heat , with temperatures running about 10 to 15 degrees above normal. An extreme heat warning is in effect until eight tonight for the coast and inland valleys , where temperatures could reach triple digits. So what can San Diegans do to stay safe and find relief? KPBS environment reporter Tammie Murga has been following this and joins us. Tammie , welcome back to midday.
S2: Hi , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. So I mean , you've been out in the community talking with people out in the heat. How are folks coping with this?
S2: Yeah , there's I mean , you can think about anywhere. There's AC. That's where you'll probably probably find people. I mean , if you have it at home , it's fantastic. A lot of people are staying indoors , I'm hearing. But if not , you know , probably going to the malls , probably going to libraries , places like that. Tell you , just yesterday we were out in National City at the new Pepper Park splash pad , and we found some families early in the morning , you know , taking their children out and getting just some refreshing water out there. And that was really nice to see. Just these public spaces that offer , you know , just moments of , of , of , of just to refresh yourself. So people are just trying to really find free places to , to cool down.
S1: And are there cooling zones there. There are a number.
S2: Right , right. Yes. So I think there is more than 80 really across the county that you can find. And again , there are free places. They're senior centers , libraries , um , you know , you can find them on the county website or your local city's websites as well. Okay.
S1: Okay. And of course , we'll have a link to that on PBS.org as well. One thing that may complicate finding relief for people are the power outages. Have you heard anything about that?
S2: Yes , actually , over the Labor Day weekend , and I believe just yesterday , there were numerous power outages across the county. They left more than 10,000 customers without power. The utility had said that many of those were related to severe weather. So , you know , here in San Diego County , a good place to find out if there's outages. She has a map there , and they'll usually give updates on when you can expect your power to get back up. And , you know , it's just always a good reminder that , you know , have a plan with your family and your home. Have flashlights , batteries ready to go in case something like that happens.
S1: All right. And , you know , we were just talking about , you know , places that you can go to find relief , one place that hasn't been open to the public , or at least it's advised not to , is are those South Bay beaches? Um , tell me a little bit about that situation there. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So as we know for years now in Imperial County , those sorry imperial beach. The beaches there have been closed because of sewage contamination that spills over the border from Tijuana. And so people there have been , you know , they don't have access to their beaches. And recently we've seen Coronado has also had their beaches closed because of the same issue. So residents there have been telling me that they'll go pretty much anywhere right now during the heat to find , uh , you know , areas to cool off. They'll have to drive up far farther , nurse for beaches. And as I mentioned in the splash pad , one family I interviewed there were from Imperial Beach. And , you know , they don't have a , uh , access to their beaches. A splash pad that's being built in Imperial Beach is still under construction , so they're looking anywhere. And this time they went to their neighboring National City Park.
S1: And Coronado. Beaches have been closed , too , I believe. Right?
S2: Yes , that's been recent. I mean , really we're seeing , though , in that community , the beach is closed periodically because of sewage. Again , it just depends on levels of contamination. But yes , we did see that recently. they had their beaches closed as well.
S1: All right. I'm going to circle back to this. The beaches and contamination a bit later. But , um , it's not just the heat that people have been struggling with here. It's also the humidity as well. What's behind that? Gosh.
S2: Well , I'll tell you this. My family is from Los Angeles , and over the weekend I was telling them , you know , hey , how's the humidity over there? How's the heat is brutal here. And my mom told me , well , you know , we have some rain , and it's actually been a little cool , all things considered. And I was shocked and I had to call the National Weather Service and to tell them , hey , what's that stark difference there? Why there? Why are they cooler over there? And we are dealing with the heat here. So what they told me was Tropical Storm Marie , you know , several several miles off the Pacific. Uh , it brought a lot of rain and cloud coverage to those regions north of San Diego County. So we ended up getting just the heat and the humidity. And that's what we felt over Labor Day weekend. And. And on Labor Day , we saw a lot of record breaking heat. So for example , San Diego International Airport hit 95 degrees. The average right now has been 75 degrees. So that's nearly 20 degrees , right? Oceanside Harbor hit 93 and Vista also hit 102. So that's really , really hot. And I think we're you know , we're kind of cooling off into the weekend , which is a nice really for all of us. I know we're all looking forward to that. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I mean and the thing is with the humidity , I mean , it's one thing to , you know , when you don't have air conditioning , you really kind of depend on that nice breeze or cooling off period that happens when the sun goes down. But when it's humid , when it's humid outside , it just kind of traps the heat in and it's just hot still air. Exactly. You know , there's no relief at night. Um , what can people do and what do they need to keep in mind during this heatwave to stay safe? Right.
S2: Right. Well , as we mentioned earlier , you know , there's more than 80 cool zones right across the county that you can look to that again , are free. Just hang out at the library. You know , malls , a senior centers , etc. but you know , always remember to drink plenty of fluids. That's really important. Doesn't have to be water , Gatorade or whatever it may be. Just cool off there. Um. Cold showers. Um , you know , I think I've read tips to cover your head with with a white , uh , wet towel. That's also really helpful. And the county also reminds us to look out for signs of heat exhaustion. And that could look like paleness , dizziness , headaches , tiredness , weakness , and , you know , loosen up your clothes. Those are good tips. What? Your clothes , as we mentioned. So there are definitely ways to try to stay cool in addition to finding some AC. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Check on the neighbors too. Pets at pets. You know , make sure your your school kids have enough water when you send them off to school , especially if they're riding the bus. There's no air on the school buses in many cases. Yes.
S2: Yes. And we've been hearing a lot of schools are also adjusting , you know , their schedules. For example , a family yesterday told me that their son is a football player and coach is moving practice indoors instead of outdoors. So it really kind of just impacts our everyday life. Everything that we do.
S1: That really does what's in store for us for the rest of the week. Yes.
S2: Yes. So as I mentioned today , we're still under an extreme heat warning , and then tomorrow we shift into a heat advisory. And that's through 8 p.m. Thursday. I think you mentioned that earlier. Right. And so we're going to expect conditions to cool off over the weekend , which is really nice. And I think we'll we'll we'll see because it seems like we're , you know , for several months we've been feeling a lot of this , these heat waves coming in. So we'll see what we have in store.
S1: And it feels like , you know , we've just been dealing with , um , higher temperatures , I'll say , for the last three months here. How has the summer been different? And what does it tell us about the future of our climate?
S2: Yeah , it seems like , yes , the heat feels like it's just elongated , right? It's it's taking we're having these like many different periods of , of of heat waves peaks and then it drops down again and we you know , next thing you know it happens again. And so , you know the impacts of that. Of course , we're seeing climate change is something we can't ignore. It's really bringing a lot of these these consistent and long term heat waves , and it's impacting many people in different ways. As I mentioned earlier in schools yesterday in South Bay. A principal told me that they're seeing more rainy days this year than before. And rainy day schedules really mean shorter breaks. And they're moving everything indoors. And so it's everybody's feeling it. I think we're we're we're really going to see that too , this coming fall and winter with Superliner. Nothing's promised of course , but we're expecting potentially a lot of rain and that could bring a lot more heat and humidity. Wow.
S1: Wow. Um , for years , you know , I want to circle back to the the pollution that we spoke of earlier because you've you've for years have been covering the ongoing crisis in San Diego's South Bay from pollution from the Tijuana River valley. But in a recent story , you take us about 100 miles east to the site of another river impacted by pollution. Tell us more about the new river in the Imperial Valley and how it's impacting life there. Sure.
S2: Sure. So the new river is , uh , think of it kind of like the sister river of here in Tijuana. The Tijuana River over there , it crosses from Mexicali in Baja California , all the way through Imperial Valley's Calexico , their communities , and ends up in the Salton Sea , so travels pretty much 60 miles into Imperial Valley. And that river is also contaminated with untreated wastewater. There's a lot of agricultural industrial waste that runs through there. And so , as you can imagine , you know , we've learned here in the Tijuana River Valley that a lot of the pollutants there become aerosolized. And that's kind of the the consensus over there that those , you know , potentially are chemicals and pollution that people are breathing. And so a couple of weeks ago , we went out there to report on this new river just to check it out , uh , and talk to residents , see how they've been feeling , what conditions look like. It was very hot that day. Nearly 120 degrees. And the the the river , you know , you can smell the odors. It smells like rotten eggs , just as we have experienced here in the Tijuana River Valley. And so , yeah , it's a crisis that it's it's similar to what people are experiencing here. And it all stems from outdated and insufficient infrastructure in Mexico that , you know , we we have been reporting on a lot here in , in , uh , at the San Diego Mexico border.
S1: And you did speak with Congressman Raul Ruiz , right?
S2: I did , yes. So he really was the reason we were there was because of a roundtable with the EPA and the IWC , and he was part of that roundtable , and he did a really good job at kind of helping us all understand the impacts that that people , his constituents are feeling health issues , really symptoms. And he'll hear he'll tell us a little bit of what people are experiencing.
S3: When you hear the stories of people having gastric , esophageal , and other types of cancers and the suspicion that these industrial wastes have carcinogens in there , then enough is enough.
S1: Well , briefly. I mean , you report on how the US Environmental Protection Agency has been signaling a new commitment to addressing the pollution problem with the new River. How are they looking to make headway here? Yes.
S2: Yes. It sounds like it's the same , you know , urgency that the new head of the EPA made vowed here in the Tijuana River Valley to to push Mexico to to to upgrade , you know , their system and to essentially stop sewage from making its way over the border. And that was kind of the promise that was made to the community in , in Calexico and Imperial Valley. So some of the work that they're talking about is that upgrading and expanding a plant in , in Mexico , in Mexicali specifically , and they're also looking at upgrading a plant in Calexico. So , you know , bolstering these these plants and making sure that more sewage is treated before is released. Its release into the river will really help the community there with making sure that these odors don't , you know , uh , worsen conditions there. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , I tell you what. This heat has a way of laying bare problems that that we have , and it impacts us all. So thank you so much for your reporting. I've been speaking with Tammy Murga. She is the environment reporter at KPBS. Tammy , again , thanks. And stay cool.
S2: You too. Thank you so much , Dave.
S1: We'll include a link to Tammy's reporting , as well as a link to San Diego's Cool Zone locations. kpbs.org. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman.
S4: Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
