IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (CNS) - Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, will visit Imperial Beach Thursday to see the Tijuana River sewage pollution crisis, the latest in a line of political officials to observe the trans-border issue in person.
Booker was invited to South County by Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and will be joined by Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, to demand "stronger federal action to address the nation's worst environmental and public health crisis."
"The health and safety of these communities have been ignored for far too long," Booker said prior to his visit. "I'm here to see it firsthand, to stand with local leaders like Mayor Aguirre, and to push for the federal action this crisis demands."
The visit from the Senator comes the day after a UC San Diego report found dangerous chemical compounds are present not only in the water of the Tijuana River and off the coast of Imperial Beach, but are also aerosolized by ocean spray and make it into the air.
The paper's lead author, Adam Cooper, collected samples from the air and water at various points along the coast of San Diego County, including the U.S.-Mexico border, Imperial Beach and Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. The study was published in Wednesday's edition of Science Advances.
"The Tijuana River region is a very dynamic environment with implications for public health, environmental policy and international relations between the United States and Mexico," Cooper said. "Ours is one of the most comprehensive studies to date investigating water-to-air transfer of these pollutants."
The 120-mile Tijuana River flows from Baja California into the United States and discharges millions of gallons of wastewater -- including sewage, industrial waste and runoff -- into the Pacific Ocean every day.
The study looked at two aspects of wastewater pollution: the source and the concentration of pollutants along the San Diego County coastline.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jonathan Slade's lab analyzed the collected samples by searching for a compound they knew came from sewage -- a chemical produced when people use cocaine and excrete it in urine.
That chemical -- benzoylecgonine or BZG -- spiked in Imperial Beach ocean water after rainfall and in the air when choppy sea spray aerosolized it. Other chemical compounds that behave in a fluid environment similarly, such as methamphetamine; octinoxate, a UV filter used in sunscreen; and dibenzylamine, a compound used in tire manufacturing, were also analyzed.
Concentrations of these chemicals were highest in the Tijuana River itself, and petered out the more northerly the samples were taken from.
Although the amounts of some pollutants, like cocaine, were minuscule, others were more prominent, like octinoxate, which can break down into more toxic components.
The tiny amount of pollutants caused by aerosolized spray can cause health problems. Many residents have complained of respiratory illness, insomnia and headaches, and several San Diego beaches have been closed almost continuously for the last three years because of high levels of bacteria from wastewater runoff.
Aguirre, who holds a master's degree of advanced studies from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said the study was shocking but validating for South County residents who have sounded the alarm on the pollution for years.
"The study found methamphetamine, cocaine residue, tire chemicals, and toxic compounds from sunscreen floating through the air in South County -- chemicals being inhaled by children, workers, and families every single day," she said. "And let's be clear: This study shows with science what working people all know -- that the air in South County is more polluted than in La Jolla. That's not just unjust -- it's unbelievable and unacceptable.
"We are not second-class communities. We are working people who deserve the same clean air and safe environment as every other neighborhood in this country."
The paper's authors argued there are concrete actions politicians can take to better water and air standards in the area.
"The solutions to the cross-border sewage crisis aren't constrained by technical challenges," Cooper said. "They're constrained by political challenges and policy issues. We have to motivate decision-makers to make the right investments."
Slade and Cooper said the need for more research, better infrastructure and cross-border collaboration is imperative to draw any conclusions about the detrimental effects on the environment or human health.
"Often the sewage crisis is considered a water issue -- and it is -- but we show that it's in the air too. Truthfully, we don't yet know the acute health effects," Slade said. "But the numbers we report can be incorporated into models to help us better understand what we're breathing in and how much we're exposed to."
The authors said the impact of sunscreen and degrading tires impacted air quality along the coast.
Around 80% of all global wastewater is untreated, according to the authors. Of the portion that is treated, many plants remove bacteria, but not chemical pollutants.
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