SAN DIEGO (CNS) - City and county leaders Wednesday unveiled warning signs at several "hot spots" in the South Bay where high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas from the Tijuana River pollution crisis have been recorded.
San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria revealed the new signs in the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park and at Saturn Boulevard in San Diego.
Since 2018, more than 200 billion gallons of toxic sewage, trash, and unmanaged stormwater have flowed across the United States-Mexico border into the Tijuana River Valley and neighboring communities, forcing long-lasting beach closures and causing harmful impacts on public health, the environment and water quality.
In September 2024, high levels of noxious gases such as hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen cyanide were measured by scientific teams in the river valley. The chemicals created a rotten egg smell noticeable miles from the border.
Ultimately, crews from San Diego County determined there was no immediate health risk, but many residents believed the crisis had reached a turning point. But in two U.S. Centers for Disease Control-led surveys, residents reported lingering health issues they claim are tied to the ongoing sewage pollution.
Those surveys spurred the county and city to work together to get the signs placed. The signs include a QR code that takes people to a county website dedicated to health and environmental concerns in the area. The website explains what efforts have been undertaken in the Tijuana River Valley and directs people to the Air Pollution Control District website for a free air purifier.
In July, Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress introduced legislation to help combat the ongoing Tijuana River sewage pollution by appointing the Environmental Protection Agency as the lead agency on the crisis. That month, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin met with Mexico's Secretary of the Environment and National Resources, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, at the Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.
They signed a memorandum of understanding which requires both nations to expedite stormwater and sewage infrastructure projects on both sides of the border. Per the terms of that agreement, the U.S. will release previously withheld EPA Border Water Infrastructure Program funding to complete the rehabilitation of Pump Station 1 and the Tijuana River collection pipes.
In exchange, Mexico agreed to fund and begin construction on two projects this year. When completed, those will divert 10 million gallons a day from running into the river and the Pacific Ocean.
The EPA administrator visited San Diego in April to receive an update on the trans-border sewage problem and see it in person.
"I made a commitment to the residents that I would spearhead an effort to construct an all-encompassing plan to finally bring the sewage crisis to an end," he said. "Since my visit, the Mexican and United States' governments have been working collaboratively to urgently finalize a permanent, 100% solution to this longstanding issue."
Other stipulations in the agreement include Mexico paying the remaining $93 million of "Minute 328" funds -- another agreement signed in 2022 laying out multiple infrastructure projects. The deal also calls for reducing the timeline for said projects and adding additional ones as Tijuana's population continues to grow.
While Zeldin presented the agreement as a partisan-led one coming from the White House itself, politicians of all stripes have been making moves on the issue in recent months.
Earlier this year, Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, visited Imperial Beach to see the crisis up close.
"For too long, communities along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border have suffered the consequences of untreated sewage and toxic waste flowing into the Tijuana River," he said. "What I observed during my visit to Imperial Beach in May was unacceptable. This public health crisis, with growing economic and environmental impacts, would never be tolerated in Malibu or Mar-a- Lago and it shouldn't be tolerated here."
Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both D-California, and Booker, along with Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, introduced the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act of 2025. In it, the legislators call for the EPA to create a new geographic program to manage each watershed through a comprehensive water quality management plan.
Copyright 2025, City News Service, Inc.
