1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I have lived in San Diego for most of my life, lived in Chula Vista as a child and attended middle school in Imperial Beach. As an adult I have often returned to the South Bay to visit the Tijuana Estuary, a beautiful location that hosts an important variety of plants and animals in the salt marshes and coastal biosphere. The estuary is a magical place to experience, and is special to many of us who know the area. I work at San Diego State University Research Foundation supporting sponsored research grants. Recently, one of our researchers in the School of Public Health who conducts research in the area around the estuary presented her research for Research Foundation as a part of a guest lecture program that our communications department hosts. What Dr. Paula Stigler Granados has to share through her research about a wastewater crisis at this location is really alarming. I knew that we have a pollution problem at our beaches—it is impossible to ignore the fact that it has not been safe to swim in our oceans for the better part of many years due to wastewater pollution from Mexico. What I didn’t know is the impact the pollution is having on the residents of the area close to where this wastewater is pouring into the ocean. The air quality is so bad, she told us, that our Coast Guard has been at serious health risk due to training in the area. A persistent sulphuric odor can often be experienced in the area, but it’s not just a bad smell. Residents, military personnel, and other people who work in the region frequently suffer from headaches, rashes, respiratory infections, nausea, and so on. Contaminates include E. coli, other infectious diseases, heavy metals, pesticides, and also industrial waste largely coming from American companies operating in Mexico and not dealing with their industrial waste responsibly. Children are walking to school every day in this toxic environment. The County of San Diego has issued air filters for residents but these filters are not enough. We need to do much, much more to protect individuals living and working in the region. A much stronger collaborative solution with Mexico is needed to address problems with the broken wastewater pump in Mexico that is largely responsible for the unbelievable quantities of waste gushing into what is naturally a “dry river” when we are not having active rain. This public health crisis must be acknowledged at the appropriate scope and addressed at all levels of government instead of being passed back and forth like a hot potato.