S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. The problem of pollution infecting the Tijuana River and the communities around it has been decades in the making. So why is it so hard to fix ? This week , our panel of environment reporters gives us a history lesson of the Tijuana River Valley and how pollution and sewage there became a major public health concern for communities along the border. All that , plus the weekly roundup that's ahead on KPBS roundtable. Pollution and trash from the Tijuana River valley have been impacting the San Diego Tijuana region for decades. Recent research has found that pollution and toxic materials are not only impacting the region's water , but also harming its air quality. Today , we take a closer look at what led to this ongoing crisis and what's being done to fix it. Joining us today are Mackenzie Elmer. She covers the environment and energy for Voice of San Diego. Tammy Murga is also here. She's KPBS environment reporter. And finally , Philip Salata is also joining us. He's an investigative reporter covering the environment with a news source. I want to welcome you all to this first , hopefully not last environment report or roundup roundtable rather. So I want to start here by digging into the origins here. Mackenzie. Can you start by just talking about the geography of the area and how that has led to where things are today ? Sure.
S2: So the border is drawn right below a series of cliffs , basically that so it's sort of a flatlands , wetlands area in the United States side of the US-Mexico border. And then once you cross into Tijuana , things just start going up pretty dramatically. So we have this sewage crisis is definitely one of gravity of literally just wastewater , trash , sewage , freshwater , all flowing from Tijuana down into the United States to the natural estuary that we have there. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I think gravity is a great way to kind of think about it , Philip , because we do we do see the hills up there. And then , you know , down here , can you kind of paint us a picture about that river ? You know , tell us a little bit more about the Tijuana River , where it goes and how how big it is , you know , in that. Certainly.
S3: Certainly. Yeah. So I think what's very interesting is that the Tijuana River watershed , it actually spans both sides of the border , and a third of it is on the US side of the border , reaching up all the way into the Laguna mountains. And then it goes far south , even all the way to the Ensenada municipality as well. So all of that area , basically water that comes from any of these sources that travels down , it ends up channeling down into the river , and it finally ends up in a channelized portion of the river in Tijuana and flows down toward the ocean , where it crosses the border back into the United States.
S1: And now I want to kind of get into how , you know , the history of Tijuana plays into it. Philip , can you kind of get us going there ? Obviously , the population growth of the , you know , in the early 20th century is really kind of what got this problem going.
S3: Right.
S1: It was like a tourist destination for a lot of folks. Right ? Right.
S3: And that brought a lot of workers to the area. And that , you know , that kind of process has continued. In the 60s , we had the maquiladora boom and the NAFTA in the 90s , where you had more and more populations building up in that area , coming for jobs , and then mostly US companies and many multinational companies as well , providing those jobs , but also profiting from this kind of cross-border economic policy. So maybe just to add a little bit to that , that rapid growth led to the fact that these neighborhoods grew out very fast , and a lot of the critical infrastructure just , you know , they were not able to catch up with this rapid growth.
S1: And part of that rapid growth. Tammy became industry like a lot of industry came to Tijuana. Can you talk a little bit more how that , you know , the economy of Tijuana has just been kind of booming for a lot of the past several decades , really.
S4: Right , right. Yeah. And I think , like you were mentioning the maquiladoras , there's so much industry there now. I mean , even just going , you know , when I was younger and what , what it is now , I mean , it's it's really grown exponentially and you have a lot more. I think Amazon there , right ? There's so much that's going into the area. And of course residents as well that are moving into as well. And I think that that all like you mentioned that growth in industry and people living there , it really has not kept the pace or , I'm sorry , the infrastructure , the wastewater cleaning has not kept the pace with the population in that area.
S1: Um , Mackenzie , you started talking about water and it's like fresh water , obviously the oceans involved. Can you , you know , talk about because of the Tijuana River ends up in the Pacific Ocean. I think one of the first times I heard about this issue is about the beach closures around the South. Can you talk about when those started , you know , first began and how that became , you know , a problem for the region ? Yeah.
S2: I think what's important to note about the river itself too , is it's a seasonal river. So it's only flows really. It's supposed to only flow naturally in the winter when it's raining , um , or during the rainy months. And so in the summer it's supposed to be dry. So this is really where we have this tension is the river has been flowing in the summer , which means that there's water in that river watershed , and that canal and that channel that's not supposed to be there. So what is that ? It's , um , you know , leftover wastewater that's flowing at 10% of the. The population of Tijuana doesn't have a sewer system. Um , and 76% of that sewer system is in a critical , like , state. Um , so then that's kind of how we we got to this point. Um , but yeah. So basically when that whenever that channel , it's a channelized river in Tijuana and it just acts kind of like a chute. And so anything that goes in that channel will find its way into the US side. And right when you get to the US-Mexico border , it turns into a natural river. And so , like , naturally , that water does flow into this estuary. And that's also where a lot of trash and stuff collects. And kind of the problems that we talked about with the air pollution we can get into more. But there's also a treatment plant that the US and Mexico built at the border that takes a portion of that and treats it and shoots it into the Pacific Ocean once it's treated through a huge pipe. So that's kind of how that water makes its way across the border , which I think was your question. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I mean , let's talk more about the beach closures and when those really picked up , like when did community start raising concerns about the pollution here ? And yeah , how did that process kind of start you know , get going.
S2: I think the beach closures were like kind of off and on for a while. Um , back into like 2015 I think is when they started to kind of ramp up a little bit more. But then really we had a big problem in 2021 when these two big wastewater pipes snapped in half from the Mexican side of the border , which meant , like all of the sewage that was supposed to be shipped to this treatment plant in Mexico was actually ending up in the river. And we had a huge , you know , we just had a huge problem there. The beaches were closed in Imperial Beach up through Coronado. It's also closed. You know , it's also a pollutes beaches south in Mexico. Um , and so that's kind of was like when I think that really started to ramp up and this issue started to really get hot again in people's minds.
S1: So fairly recently. Yeah. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. Like over the last half decade , right. Is when we really seen I mean it's visible. You go to the beaches , the signs are there. And even that was , um , something that , uh , has changed , right ? The way that they were testing water and , and now we , we see those signs in the river valley right with when it comes to air. So that's another. As Mackenzie mentioned earlier , another like little stem of this problem , the air quality. So but yeah , the beach closures have been happening for the past couple of years. And I think a lot of residents , we've all spoken with so many families that live in the area , and then a lot of people that aren't even from San Diego and come visit and never really heard about this before. So you get a whole range of , of things. But I think for the most part , there's so many families that , I mean , you , you work all your life , you buy a home and to live near the beach. And now you have this problem and you can't you can't get into the water , right ? That's devastating.
S1: And I want to talk more about just , you know , the impact of communities and how this has become more of like just a public health issue , you know , first and foremost and affecting people on both sides of the border. But I want to still kind of go back here a little bit to the origins. And one complicating factor of dealing with this issue is obviously that it's , you know , on an international border between the US and Mexico. Philip , I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about , you know , how each , you know , government decided who's responsible for what and how that kind of came to be. I know we have many agencies kind of dealing with it on both sides , and there's a lot of back and forth there. Can you can you kind of break that down for us ? Sure.
S3: And without getting way too much into the weeds , but there is an agreement between the US and Mexico that basically settles these questions along the whole southern border that's also going into Texas and so on. So there's an agreement about what responsibilities each government has. And , you know , to some degree , some acknowledgement of the responsibility on both sides. That's really how the international boundary in the IWC , the International Boundary and Wastewater Commission , the federal entity that governs this , the US federal entity that governs this side of the border , um , has taken on building the wastewater treatment plant in the US. And that agreement will see probably a new one coming up soon. There were just recently conversations between the US and Mexico about kind of recommitting to some past commitments , uh , on , on both sides. Right. So , uh , yeah , maybe that answers a part of the question.
S1: So the first , you know , talking about wastewater treatment , I mean , that plant , what that came in about the 1990s , right.
S2: But , um , yeah , it was built undersized. It was built to handle 25 million gallons of wastewater per day. It's hard to think about that in those terms. But , um , you know , when it's really bad , the the river flow can get , you know , 500 million gallons or more. Um , so it was always built under size. That's a matter because the problem , the problem is because to do anything , um , on the border , basically you have to get like , Congress's approval. So this whole system is a wastewater system , but it basically takes Congress to say , yes , we will give you some money to build a wastewater treatment plant. They got some in the 90s. They built a plant. But it was , you know , probably not big enough for what the problem was going to be. And then over time , as we found through our reporting , um. Guess what ? Congress didn't keep up. Um , the BWC didn't keep up in terms of taking care of that plant. And so it started to break down , and we kind of got to the problem all coming together in 2021 with that terrible sewage break. And then we all found out that the treatment plant at the US-Mexico border that we're handling isn't working very well. Um , and it's kind of interesting because for a long time , when I first got here in 2020 , everybody was pointing at Mexico like , they're dumping sewage on us. All of their infrastructure is broken. They have a wastewater treatment plant that's not working. But actually we also have a similar issue. We weren't taking care of our side of the bargain either.
S1: Tammy , you kind of mentioned , you know , the public health picture here in South Bay. And I want to kind of come back to that , you know , can you talk a little bit about when community members really started , you know , to raise concerns about like , hey , this is not I don't feel , you know , raising the health concerns that that this was a problem for people living along the river.
S4: I feel like just in speaking with so many people and you guys too , it feels like for years they've been raising these concerns , but really it feels like it kind of really ramped up. I don't know , the last 4 or 3 , five years or so that people have really , um , you know , they filed complaints with the Air Pollution Control District. Um , they have written letters to their elected officials. Schools have gotten involved. There's been a lot of resolutions that have been passed. And I think it's a lot of the advocacy with with people in connecting with their local elected officials. It's kind of like gone up the chain to , um , you know , have their voices be heard. And I think that's that's something that we've seen a lot more , um , since the this this again , going back to the air pollution topic. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Let's , let's talk more about that. So this was research that's been going on for a couple of years. Right ? I think , you know , each of you have been covering this , but the final report came out earlier this year. Tami , Tami , talk about what it found and really the kind of the important piece of it. Sure.
S4: Sure. Yes. So again , I think as the summer of last year , we had a really , really hot , uh , a heat wave and a lot of people started , uh , making complaints about these odors , and they can't sleep and it's making them nauseous , etc.. And so a researchers from UC Riverside , San Diego State University and UCSD , um , for the past , we're looking at water. But they said in this recent study that they just published , um , in August that residents were telling them , hey , yes , we know the water is contaminated , but come more inland. We think that there's something over on the river side of things. So researchers started collecting a lot of data , um , water and yeah , water quality tests over. But the , um , the river valley , specifically in an area by Saturn Boulevard. And I believe it's sunset. And this area particularly , they found that there's really , really high concentrations of all these toxic chemicals , but they specifically focus on hydrogen sulfide. And as we know , hydrogen sulfide releases this really terrible smell like rotten egg smell. Right. And that can travel really far. Um , so nearby there's homes , there's schools , there's parks. And so this study was pretty much the , uh , uh , it really validated what a lot of residents have been saying that , you know , air quality can affect I'm sorry , water quality can affect air quality. Right. And that hydrogen sulfide was one of the gases they found there. And there's all these others. So yeah , I think this was one that a lot of residents were really happy to see. Um , and again , it was it was really them that kind of pushed a lot of researchers to say , come and look at this area particularly. It's not just the beaches , the water that's reaching all the way by the ocean. It's also the river itself. And again , this hotspot was something that came out of. Right.
S1: Right. This was like a particular spot in the river where this these pollutants were found. The hydrogen sulfide. Right. Philip.
S3: Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to add , um , exactly. And I think what was very interesting in meeting the scientists is that , uh , they are specialists in looking at how toxic chemicals get aerosolized. Right. And so they were really interested at first. The hypothesis was that probably in the breaking waves out in the ocean , this , you know , the chemicals from the sewage are going into the air and they could travel far. And then. Exactly. And then as they started to talk to residents , they started to see that , you know , perhaps these aerosols are also coming from other places. So it was became not only a water issue , but then an air issue. And then when it's an air issue , that could also mean that it's traveling way farther than just , you know , the South Bay. And they discovered that it is McKinsey.
S1: Any gaps in research ? I mean , I know there's there's kind of still ongoing here. I've also heard that , you know , there's still kind of looking into hydrogen sulfide and sort of like long term impacts of what what that does. This is something that's been found , I think , in the Salton Sea as well. I mean , what can you tell us about the state of research now ? It's obviously come a long way , you know , on this issue here in the South Bay. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So hydrogen sulfide is basically just a sewer gas. I mean , it's like the smell that you smell in any kind of like wastewater treatment plant. If you go to the if you go to the treatment plant at the border , you really smell hydrogen sulfide. Very , you know , very gives you a headache kind of place , you know , and the people that work there wear these little monitors because usually hydrogen sulfide is typically more of like a killer in like industry people who work with wastewater and and often it's more like in enclosed spaces can be when it's can be deadly. Um , and that's where a lot of the research has been on hydrogen sulfide , from my understanding. And it's actually like when you can't smell hydrogen sulfide and it's present. That's when it's actually like at a deadly killer level. So yes , we're smelling hydrogen sulfide in the Tijuana River. That means it's definitely present and needs to be studied , but it doesn't necessarily mean it's like going to like , kill you , or so I think that's like an important distinction is kind of when we talk about toxicity , when we talk about gases and chemicals , it's important to really understand like when , like when things are at a dangerous point. And so that now because of Tammy and Phillips reporting the air Pollution Control District is tracking that. Um , I think it's also important to note that , uh , you know , this this issue also started , I think , to come to a head in 2021 , 2022 , when the county released a brand new scientific tool to measure water quality. Um , so science has really been sort of fueling a lot of this , obviously. So this this test came out , it showed , oh my God , the beach water is like way dirtier than we thought it was before we better. And the county just likes closed beaches up through Coronado. It was the first time we could really tell Coronado was affected by the wastewater. They thought they were kind of safe anyway. Um , and that started to , like , freak out the mayors of those towns and started to really , like , ramp up some concern , like , wait , we don't actually want this test. Like it's we don't believe it. It's it's too much. And I think it was just so much , um , concern over that , that the county actually kind of backed off and basically like , made a beach warning sign that , like , gave the decision to enter the water to the population instead of like the county saying it's too dangerous. So that was sort of a political aspect that played off of the science in another way.
S3: If I could add one little thing.
S1: We're going to break right now and we'll come right back. When we come back , we continue our conversation with our panel of environment reporters and take a look at some possible solutions to cross-border sewage. That's next on roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. Today , I'm speaking with local environment reporters about the decades long issue of pollution in the Tijuana River. I'm joined by Voice of San Diego's Mackenzie Elmer KPBS , Tami Murga and Philip Salata from a news source. Philip , before the break , McKenzie was kind of breaking down how , you know , changes in water testing and how that's kind of , you know , impacted beach closures and other kind of policy. But you had something you wanted to add there. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. I just wanted to mention that , I mean , we do have regulation around hydrogen sulfide in work settings. And we do have some knowledge about what they do in these very specific closed environments. What we don't know , though , and what studies will have to tell us in the future , is what chronic exposure really looks like long term , maybe at lower levels. The ones that don't , you know , they're not going to set off the beeper in the workplace. But what happens if you're living with that day and night and over many , many years ? So I think that's very important. That's something that the county is now starting to pay attention to. And also that the the community in that perspective , you know , a lot of folks talk about , you know , are we then going to be a place where we are experimented on in these things ? And it's a kind of unfortunate and real time experiment of what long term exposures like these really look like and how they impact people.
S1: And while people are living their lives , like as you mentioned , and they live here. Tammy , you were kind of talking about that too , in terms of a lot of the movement you're seeing in terms of research and just kind of figuring out the long term impacts here. Right.
S4: Right. I like to I would like to kind of focus on the county , like you just mentioned. the candies. Now , kind of taking that step in , I think it's really been through the leadership of now County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre when she was campaigning , and while she was a mayor of Imperial Beach , she was kind of pushing for the county to kind of take on more of that , like research approach. And she's been successfully pushing for this at the county , her council , I'm sorry , her county supervisor colleagues have agreed to , to support these efforts. And , I mean , one of them is to look at the long term effects of of exposure to hydrogen sulfide to all of these pollutants. And I believe they approved , um , to look at , you know , if they can get an epidemiological study going , as well as the economic impacts that these beach closures and pollutions have had on tourism , on , you know , local businesses , etc.. So it looks like yeah , that research is is definitely kind of taking movement more. And on Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors , one of the items is to explore whether the county can do their own soil testing because , as you guys probably recall , right , the EPA rejected exploring whether the Tijuana River can be designated as a Superfund site , and this was based off of old soil testings. And now the county may consider , well , what do we do our own ? Could that show , could that be enough to compel the EPA to come back and reconsider this ? So that's , I think , something that we'll we'll see you soon.
S1: And McKenzie , I know we've talked you've talked about the Superfund conversation. You know , in years past , even this this idea has come has been around for quite a while. Go ahead. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I just I think that's where , um , Paloma has been really successful is and also just kind of the timing. We've had a lot of like new scientific study , like we have new water quality testing coming out. We have this , you know , research going on in the air quality that we're able to do now or make these connections. Um , and she kind of capitalized on that politically as mayor of Imperial Beach and really just drew a lot of attention to. You know what ? You know the public health aspect of it. And I mean , that's something that , like former Mayor Sardina of Imperial Beach , was also always shouting about , you know , just as much almost. But the county never really felt it was their role to do like to figure out what's going on down there. You know , this whole epidemiological study , it sounds really like fancy , but it's this like it's a huge undertaking in terms of like a public health circumstances to like go and study a population and how like what polluted water and air is affecting people's health. It costs a lot of money. And so the fact that the county , like Paloma now at the county and can push for that means that , you know , she can direct funding to whatever she wants or like hopefully with her , you know , Democratic majority now in the county and potentially fund something like an epidemiological study and can prove that the public health effects of this , of this wastewater problem and really get that attention of like , Congress , you know , and that's how you get this problem. Sort of like fixed in the long run. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So and that's kind of where I want to go next. Right. You know like obviously , you know , this this sort of movement in the county and the state level and the local , the lots there , you know , kind of proving out , you know , this data you've been talking about. But ultimately a lot of this comes down to infrastructure. Right. Mackenzie.
S2: So this is a wastewater problem at its core. We're just talking about treating sewage , collecting it properly and treating it. And , um , you know , federal government doesn't really run a lot of wastewater treatment plants. It's kind of not really like a role Congress typically plays. This is a very unique sort of thing at the border that it's doing. So , you know , normally you pay your you pay your bill , you pay your wastewater bill. And like the city gets your money and then they like , do what they need to do to make sure that the wastewater is cleaned for you and you don't have to think about it. But at the border , it's like every time they need to fix something , they have to go to Congress and ask and say , hey , can you please put like $3,300 million in your budget so that we could , like , make sure this plan doesn't broken and you know , that is insane. Like to try to get both sides of Congress , especially now , uh , to to agree on.
S1: Something like that. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So that's been a huge challenge. And the former commissioner under Biden was successful in like kind of opening a lot of transparency and opening the doors to the plant and showing what was wrong with it for the first time. And I think that was successful in getting , you know , Congress's attention. And they did get some more money when they finally , like , admitted that their plant was broken. So but , uh , go ahead.
S1: Sorry , Philip. I mean , let's talk solve the problem.
S3: Well , even with the Uh , Ibe WC , South Bay water treatment plant. Now , if , if that gets finished to be processing 50 million gallons a day , right ? Even if that happens , it still doesn't solve the problem. Right. So we're still solving solving the problem in digits that don't resolve the entire , uh , you know , how much sewage is actually flowing down this entire watershed. So , I mean , it's obviously a question of capital. I think there are also peculiar things going on. If I can talk about some of my recent reporting around , um , about $2.5 million of federal money being invested in a kind of experimental technology down in the river. Uh , it's a company called Green Water Services that is now pumping ozone into the water in an open air environment. And a lot of scientists , for example , have looked at that and have started flagging. This is a , you know , a concerning situation. If we're going to pump ozone , there's all sorts of chemicals , industrial chemicals in there. And we're not really we haven't tested that in a closed environment. We're going to treat the community again as a kind of experimental ground. Right. And so I just mentioned that also because as I've been trying to interact with the IWC in this next period , um , there's much less information that I'm able to get. And the conversation has has kind of diminished a bit. And I think it's very important that if these kinds of experiments are going to take place , that we have a very live public discussion or public access to the information about that.
S4: And , Mackenzie , you did a recent report on that , right , that kind of highlighted those challenges or those differences in communication.
S2: Yeah , I guess I think I just said what you guys were also running into is there's a new commissioner appointed by Trump. He's a former EPA guy , actually. Um , that's , uh , Chad McIntosh. And he's , uh , you know , he's a new commissioner. He's in charge. He's the one who makes all the decisions about where the money goes at the IWC. And none of us have been able to get an interview with him yet , which is really different because the former commissioner , she was like available at any time. Um , which was I mean , it's it's very clear that whoever the president appoints to run the IWC can really swing , you know , open or closed on the door of the , of the IWC. And so right now , we're kind of experiencing a point where they're not putting out as many updates as they used to. And like when the wastewater is flowing , what's broken ? We used to get a lot of that. We used to be able to go and get tours of the plant whenever we wanted , you know , call , you know. And so we're running into like another like lack of information sort of space which is , which is troubling. And I think with your story , Philip , it's like you found out that there was a sole source contract given to this , like one technology company to do this experiment. And they're like , already they're doing it now. It's like happened super fast. So it's like true that it's like that's very curious. Like how did that decision get made ? That's new. That's a new idea that IWC didn't use to do that or that we knew of.
S4: So I'm also curious , you know , like the funding. Where did that come from ? We know that they're very limited , right , with how to use it. I mean , this is not just here in San Diego. It's all across the border. Right.
S2:
S3: That's my call. Please let me see the bubbles.
S2: You just want to see the bubbles , man.
S1: Well , on on recent reporting , Philip , you also kind of talked about you know , obviously the Trump administration is really prioritizing , you know , border enforcement. And and they're making changes along the border and in some cases waiving environmental rules down in this area we're talking about. Right. Can you talk a little bit about that. You know how how that may exacerbate sewage flows down there.
S3: Well , right. I mean , so that specific story is about waiving environmental laws to build more barrier along the US-Mexico border and by waiving those laws. I mean , they had already many issues of causing erosion , of causing more flooding risks. And let alone to say that some of those laws are also around , for example , Native American ancestral burial grounds. Right. So waiving those laws and not looking at the science of how you're destabilizing the land leads to also all sorts of problems , including also sediment runoff , which is one of the biggest problems we don't talk about much in the Tijuana River Valley. You have tons and tons and tons of sediment coming down the valleys that feed into the river , stuffing up the estuary. In fact , the estuary is rising , and it's kind of becoming another type of ecosystem because it's raising above what , a normal estuary , let's say altitude right , is. So a lot of work is going in to try to equalize that situation. So waiving those laws causes a chain of problems. Mackenzie.
S1: Mackenzie.
S2: Yeah , I did a story I think I published earlier this year. I had to sue the IWC to get public records. So they weren't , like , completely open , you know. So , um , but the the same there's a waiving of environmental laws that the border has been happening for a long time , and it's like clearly happening again , like more intensely. But that basically Homeland Security built , um , a border wall right across the river. They basically closed the gap with a 30 foot border wall that nobody's really talking about. But basically if if it rains a lot and no one's cleaning that border wall that crosses a river across border River , we could have a huge dam basically building up in the middle of the river. And EPA has done some studies , and EPA under Biden did some studies showing that the city of Tijuana downtown would probably flood and people could die. Like , there's , there's we have a wait and see moment on that particular project , and it sounds like they're going to be doing more of the same thing. According to Phillips reporting.
S1: As we kind of turn wrapping up here , I do want to kind of zoom back out here. McKenzie , you. You know , a few years ago , you you produced a really great video on just sort of like the background of of the of the problem down there where you kind of broke it all down. Um , and I , you know , I was watching that on YouTube yesterday and like the top comment there was , you know , I've been hearing about this for 40 years and we'll be hearing about it for 40 more. And I just wanted to get your , you know , each of your takes. You know , you've all been kind of covering this for years at this point.
S2:
S3: Yeah , right. I we've been in a history of , um , of hopes that have led to , um , you know , promises that have not really panned out. So we're here to watch that. And , um , yes , there is positive movement. I mean , there is a whole coalition of of non-profit Nonprofit organizations that have been teaming up with policymakers that have been getting money to come to this area. And it's quite remarkable on both sides of the border. So they're really making a stir. And resources are coming now. I think the point now , everyone's in this moment of being vigilant and of watching of what actually happens with that money. Right. Promises are promises and they're broken all the time. So it's a vigil time.
S4: Tammy , I completely agree. I think I am actually really optimistic about all the work that we've seen with the community side. A lot of people have been so vocal. And again , you know , a lot of people say , enough with the studies. We don't need any more data. We just want this solved. But at the end of the day , a lot of that does give a little bit more pressure or put a little bit more pressure for those that the decision makers right , that we need to maybe I guess we need to continue drilling this point , that this is important , that needs to be fixed. And I'm really excited to see a lot of that. And I just think that there's there's a lot to be released in terms of all of these studies that we have to see , like what's going to come out of that. And of course , with this new administration that promises like 100% solution. Um , we'll see. I think that we are kind of at this , like turning point. Maybe it could go either way. I think we're all kind of , I don't know , maybe at the edge of her seat. We'll see.
S1: Kensi , quick , quick.
S2: Last , I think from where we started , it's like it's hard to solve. Like , for gravity. And like , this water is going to. It's a river , so it's really hard to try to just , like , fix the river. I think , really , you have to lift up the city of Tijuana and sort of , like , help fix this infrastructure to actually make the solution. But right now , we've seen from the Trump administration's pick from BWC , he's too busy to talk to us because he's busy helping save Americans from pollution. Well , we don't hear Mexico in that conversation. And so they're I'm concerned that there's going to be a further separation of us versus them , which has never really like been good for this problem. So that's the concern.
S1: We'll have to leave it there , but we'll have you all on again to kind of talk about this very soon , because we got a lot more to talk about. I've been speaking with McKenzie Elmer , environment and energy reporter with the Voice of San Diego , along with Tami Murga from KPBS , since the environmental reporter there. And finally , Philip Salata has also been joining us. He's eNews source's environment reporter. And each of you have events coming up. We'll try to link to that in the show notes and on our website at pbs.org. Thanks so much. Let's do this again soon.
S3: Thank you.
S5: So much. Thanks.
S1: Up next. For the fourth time in six seasons , the San Diego Padres are back in the playoffs. We'll take a look at who they'll be facing , as well as some other stories in our weekly roundup roundtables. Back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. It's time now for our weekly roundup. And here with me to do that is KPBS producer Juliana Domingo. Hey , Juliana.
S5: Hey , Andrew.
S1: So I'm going to start things off this week. It's starting to feel almost like a yearly tradition at this point , but the San Diego Padres are back in the playoffs. They're going to play the Chicago Cubs in the wild card round , and that starts on Tuesday. Um , and , you know , Padre beat writer A.J. Casale kind of reminded me this morning. That'll be the first time those two teams have faced off in the playoffs since a really , it's like a famous series back in 1984. Um , which , you know , brings back happy memories for Padre fans that can remember that and in heartbreak for Cubs fans. I'm from Chicago and I remember that quite well. So the first game again is Tuesday. Not sure where these games will be played yet. It looks likely it'll more than likely than not will be in Chicago , but there's still a chance it could come to Petco , so we'll have to see. The Padres are playing a three game series this weekend against the Diamondbacks. But you know , we'll see. Just a reminder , last season you know the Padres they ended up losing to the Dodgers. They you know pushed them to the limit of the deciding fifth game in that series. And it was really the only problems the Dodgers faced in that entire playoffs. They went on to win the World Series. So we'll see. But another chance for the Padres to kind of , you know , push it into October. So we have high hopes there. So I just wanted to start off with that. But Julianna , what stories do you have this week ? Yeah.
S6: So we just heard from our Environment Reporter roundtable , so I thought it'd be good to tie in another environment related story , this time in the Imperial Valley. And so , KPBS reporter our very own Kaori Suzuki looked at ongoing dust storms in the Imperial Valley and Coachella Valley. There's been eight major ones since the turn of the century , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , and they only seem to be getting worse. So there's also been a lot of studies around the health impact of these storms. Think asthma rates and the strain on the health care system , too , in the region. But there also hasn't been a lot of talk of solutions. So that's something that Corey looked into for this story. He spoke with UCSD Professor Amato Evan , who is looking into actually developing a warning system for dust storms. And basically , a major reason these dust storms are getting worse is because inland lakes across the western United States are drying up from really intensive water use and climate change. And of course , that includes the Salton Sea , which is the largest inland lake in California. So Corey also spoke to local environmental groups like Comité Civico , who are continuing to advocate for the needs of Imperial Valley residents and have also done a lot themselves to address and monitor worsening air quality. And so that's actually where the idea for an early warning system came from. It was a conversation between this UCSD professor , Mateo Evan , and Luis Olmedo , who leads Comité Civico. And it would basically work like a weather app on your phone. So that would alert you a few minutes or hours before the storm actually comes. And so right now , they're actually facing a lack of funding. There was a bill that a state senator , Steve Padilla , had introduced to the California legislature , but it failed to pass. It would have reserved $3 million to looking into , you know , these dust storms and running like sort of a trial period on this sort of warning system. So Corey also kind of reported that residents around the Salton Sea are really excited about the prospect of this system because for a long time , again , there wasn't really any talk of solution. And so they're hopeful that , you know , something can come out of this. And they can also kind of with a warning system like this , also then address the health impacts that can come from these storms , but also from the Salton Sea see. Because , as you might know , the Salton Sea has this really kind of like really intense mix and concoction of pesticides and agricultural chemicals and.
S1: Well , similar.
S6: Kinds of military.
S1: You're talking about the cross-border sewage pollution. Like they found hydrogen sulfide in Salton Sea. And they are going so communities around , they're going through , you know , similar problems that are being faced here in South Bay. So yeah , there's definitely a lot of concern there. And it is interesting to see , you know , the role technology can play. We've seen you know wildfire detection technology really kind of help spot wildfire easier things like that. So it's interesting to see that applied to , you know , dust storms in this case.
S6: Yeah , totally. And then in terms of a cultural story , folks might have heard already that there was a really famous upcoming movie that was filmed in San Diego. Um , or part of it was filmed in San Diego , and that's one battle after another. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson , the To Himself , starring Leonardo DiCaprio , and essentially they had filmed around the border in Otay Mesa , Borrego Springs , downtown , including at the Westgate Hotel and our very own Jacob Air also looked at the economic impacts of this on San Diego. $7 million and just what this means to you for the local filmmaking industry and some filmmakers that Jacob had spoken to say that they said that this could be a turning point for San Diego , maybe. And San Diego actually hasn't had a film commission since 2013. And that's the nonprofit that , you know , supports films being shot on location and helps out with those logistics. So I hate to admit this , but as a as a cinephile , I've never actually seen a PTA movie. So maybe I can't call myself a movie lover , but , um.
S5: You know , his movies have been on my.
S6: Watch list.
S5: For many. Years.
S1: Years. If you hadn't.
S5: Admitted that , I know.
S1: I actually really like Paul Thomas Anderson movies. Yeah , his movies are just definitely , like , sometimes challenging but always interesting. And this. I've never watched the trailer. I don't know if you plan on seeing this or watching any other PTA movies , as you called it. Um , but it looks really interesting. It looks pretty frenetic and kind of crazy , but I'm definitely interested in seeing it.
S6: I mean , The Phantom Thread and Punch-Drunk love have been on my watch list for years. So I am , you know , again , a little ashamed to admit I haven't seen any of his movies , but I think as soon as it comes out tonight , actually. Right , I'm going to go in and yeah , just , you know , check it out. Um , I know it's also garnering a lot of critical acclaim and awards buzz , and this is a very random sort of tidbit or factoid , but my , um , one of the actresses I'm Chace Infinity , who plays Leonardo DiCaprio's daughter in the movie , she was actually named after a Batman Forever character , Trace. Meridian.
S5: Meridian.
S6: And also the Buzz Lightyear quote to infinity and beyond. Um , so , you know , I think just a lot of buzz around this movie. So it's really cool that there is sort of a local angle.
S5: To it as well. Yeah. Yeah , exactly.
S1: I'm curious , like , what if we if you recognize anything you know from San Diego while watching the movie , it'll be interesting to see. Yeah.
S5: Yeah.
S6: Yeah , totally. And then in another local arts related story , Hispanic Heritage Month is well underway , as we know. And so KPBS Laura McCaffrey highlighted a local muralist , Michele Guerrero. She's also known as Mr. B baby , and she was tapped by the MTS to create a mural at the trolley overpass by Beyer Boulevard. And she also created a special edition pronto card for the month. And you might remember , they did something similar for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in partnering with local sign painter Koi Son to do an MTS bus Wrap and Pronto card. So Mr. Baby's mural is basically cartoon paintings of a man and a woman done in her style , and they're facing the street , but they're in sort of a different world. So the man is wearing a gold and black sombrero , and behind him is Tijuana's skyline. While in the women's background you can see San Diego's skyline , and she's wearing this really vibrant red dress. And the mural is actually dedicated to her parents , which is really sweet and just other people with a similar sort of story. And then on the pronto card , they're also little cartoon people in her style celebrating under papel picado , and it's in this pinata style font , and it's essentially a celebration of fiestas. If you want to grab the card , it's available for $2 at the transit store on 1255 Imperial Avenue. Or just , you know , a lot of different stations. And the full list is on KPBS. And again , this is part of Toronto's Community Celebration program , which I think is just a really awesome program , and I'm excited to see what they have coming up.
S1: Yeah , I mean , you said the word vibrant and I think that was like really captures the space. You know , that what she did with it. And also I think it's so cool the way the personal story of families incorporated the two cities. It's really like a really beautiful piece. So we're working on that. One quick reminder before we go. The I-5 will be closed much of this weekend. Northbound lanes between the eight and like mission Bay drive , something like that. So just a reminder there. And that's about what we have time for this week on the roundup. Juliana , thanks so much for joining us.
S5: Thanks , Andrew.
S1: That's KPBS producer Juliana Domingo. That'll do it for our show this week. Thanks so much for listening. You can listen to the show anytime as a podcast. KPBS roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables. Technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Juliana Domingo. Brooke Rooth is roundtable senior producer. I'm Andrew Bracken. Thanks again for listening. Have a great weekend.
