SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Researchers from UC San Diego are releasing a new study showing the polluted Tijuana River is releasing a large amount of a toxic gas that people are breathing.
“Making this connection between, I think the big one of the big punchlines is connecting water quality with air quality, which has not been done in the past,” Dr. Kimberly Prather, one of the UC San Diego researchers, said.
But a new study from UC San Diego researchers is giving credence to a concern of those who live here.
“Public Health, it’s a crisis,” Marvel Harrison, an Imperial Beach resident and activist, said. “All along, those of us who live here knew we were smelling rotten eggs, knew what that probably represented, that it is, you know, a byproduct of untreated waste.”
After studying the river with air sensors in September, researchers found that the polluted Tijuana River releases large quantities of the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide. It’s what gives off that smell of sewer and rotten eggs that you can smell in the South Bay.
It also identified this area on Saturn Boulevard as a hotspot for the odors.
“It was basically when the flows of the river were high, which I'll talk more about, that leads to turbulence. That turbulence looks just like a breaking wave. It's aerosolization,” Prather said.
Harrison told ABC 10News it makes her feel that the concerns she and others have are being validated by science.
“People were reporting what they smelled and what they experienced, and we weren't being believed. Now the science is, you know, diehard really proving that what we knew all along and you know this this drop of this publication today is so exciting,” Harrison said.
ABC 10News reached out to the County of San Diego about the study and it’s findings.
In a statement, Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan wrote us the following statement:
“The County of San Diego appreciates the researcher's dedication to the Tijuana River valley pollution. Their report provides data to confirm what we've seen from two separate CDC studies. It gives us further confidence and data to continue our efforts to work with Federal partners on eliminating this pollution while at the same time doing what we can on this side of the border.
Those efforts include teaming up to address hotspots, continuing to evaluate public health impacts and mitigation strategies, and providing residents with actionable steps such as health care information and links to free air purifiers. We appreciate that this is an all hands on deck issue and acknowledge the continued involvement and dedication of the community, researchers, our Board of Supervisors, our committed team at the County and regional leadership to address this crisis.”
Harrison hopes this study can help put more pressure on identifying and stopping the source of the pollution. Something researchers said they’re looking to uncover.
The water needs to be cleaned. The river needs to be cleaned. The sources need to be discovered and figured out. We're working on that now,” Prather said. “We're, you know, the best way for to control pollution is never let it out in the first place. So, we're working towards that now.”
