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Board renews emergency proclamation for Tijuana River pollution after hydrogen sulfide spikes
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Summary
Citing recent hydrogen sulfide spikes and public health impacts, the Board renewed the county emergency proclamation for the US‑Mexico transboundary pollution crisis and asked staff to forward an evidence packet (monitoring data and studies) to the state and federal partners.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously renewed the county’s local emergency proclamation addressing US‑Mexico transboundary pollution from the Tijuana River, citing recent sewage spills and hazardous hydrogen sulfide levels.
The motion sponsor told the board that air monitoring from the county Air Pollution Control District recorded hourly hydrogen sulfide averages near 500 parts per billion during recent events and that UC San Diego data showed spikes up to 2,500 parts per billion. The sponsor asked staff to include a compiled packet—recent county mitigation efforts, monitoring data, academic studies and regional actions—when forwarding the proclamation to state and federal partners to strengthen requests for assistance.
Public commenters from affected communities described severe odors and health impacts; multiple callers urged more immediate, local measures and criticized reliance on external resources. Board members stressed urgency and asked staff to seek all available state and federal support while continuing local response and mitigation (air purifiers, feasibility work on Saturn Boulevard hotspot, syndromic surveillance and epidemiologic studies).
The motion to renew the proclamation and include the additional documentation passed unanimously; staff said the renewal and packet will be forwarded to the governor’s office and relevant federal partners so agencies can consider emergency assistance and funding.
Next steps: staff was directed to forward an expanded documentation packet to the state and federal agencies and to continue local mitigation work and monitoring. The board asked for continued updates to be provided to the public and supervisors.
