California border officials press state to speed fixes for cross‑border sewage, airborne pollution

Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, chair pro tem of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, told the State Water Resources Control Board on Sept. 16 that cross‑border flows from the Tijuana River have produced a “public health and environmental crisis” for South San Diego residents. “This crisis, this emergency is the biggest public health and environmental crisis in the Western Hemisphere hands down,” Aguirre said during the board’s public forum. She said researchers from University of California, Riverside; University of Texas at Austin; San Diego State University; and UC San Diego measured hydrogen sulfide peaks “of 4,000 plus, per minute” during overnight hours and reported chronic exposures for residents.

Aguirre described foam visible by satellite in the riparian area and warned that a manmade culvert under Saturn Boulevard increases turbulence and releases gases near schools and day cares. She said the Tijuana watershed has delivered what she characterized as “over a 100,000,000,000 gallons of wastewater” into U.S. waters since 2018…