Spring is Here! Blossoming Sewage Plumes and Sprouting Beach Closure Signs

March 31, 2006

On Wednesday, after heavy rains, WiLDCOAST’s Coastal Campaign took to the road with Surfrider’s new Executive Director, Jim Moriarty to survey and document the contamination flowing into our border area beaches. With Oscar Romo of the Tijuana River Estuary behind the wheel and Tague Hurley behind the camera we set South to tour the Tijuana River Watershed. From a vantage-point high above Tijuana we videotaped a square-mile plume of contamination spreading out from the Tijuana River Mouth and another smaller plume six miles south at San Antonio. While the sun shown, the frothy brown plumes contrasted sharply with the dark blues and greens of the open sea as millions of gallons of sewage-contaminated water flowed off our coast.

In Imperial Beach, a few brave souls floundered in the playful waist-high peaks south of the pier. Maybe the red warning signs that sprout from the sand with as little as ½” of rain aren’t bright enough. Or maybe as one surfer suggested, people believe that the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health is simply “overly cautious”. He must not know that contact with this water has been the main reason why the Navy Seals moved their training first from Imperial Beach to Coronado, and then last year even further away to Camp Pendleton…all to escape the toxic flows of the Tijuana River. Or maybe he has been luckier than the thousands of local and visiting surfers who have experienced health problems after surfing Imperial Beach.

Returning to the “developed” side of the border we watched as sewage flowed freely under the border fence at Smuggler’s Gulch and Goat Canyon. This area was a popular crossing point for migrants before the installation of motion sensors, stadium lights, and an increased border patrol presence. Yet in terms of border security, it is easy enough to chase down immigrants who cross illegally, but how do we stop a sewage flow for not having the proper documents? Simply put, the biggest terrorist threat to border area surfers is cross-border sewage flows.

Interestingly, the United States government is facilitating the passage of these flows to our ocean. Just this year, thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent by the International Boundary and Water Commission to connect a channel from Smuggler’s Gulch to the Tijuana River, just a few miles upstream from the ocean. From the size of the plume opening like a gigantic blossom from the river mouth we can be confident that the channel is quite effective.

The entire border community is affected by pollution from the Tijuana River. Every time the local lifeguards make a rescue during a beach closure they are risking hepatitis, sinus infections and gastro-intestinal illness. The hundreds of Border patrol agents frequently in contact with water from the Tijuana River recently received a one-time hazardous payment for exposure to toxic waste. Many feel that this isn’t an adequate compensation considering the risk this water poses to their health.

There are also indirect effects felt by border area businesses. Sewage-contaminated water signs are not exactly tourist attractions. In terms of real estate, is it any surprise that ocean-front property in Imperial Beach is the most affordable in San Diego? When the business community decides that denial of the problem is not a viable solution, local surfers will have a powerful ally in our fight for clean water.

As we concluded our tour, the conversation turned toward the projects needed to ensure a clean and healthy coastal environment for people on both sides of the border. We agreed that the key to any comprehensive plan is to build support in the communities most affected. This includes local surfers, fishermen, businesses, schools, government and all types of organizations. It is critical that we include everyone. I want the Imperial Beach choir (if there is one) to be in front of the pier harmonizing for clean water while local kindergartners do finger-paintings of a clean ocean.

WiLDCOAST is committed to working with groups like Surfrider to bring everyone together in our fight for clean-water solutions. Hopefully, the more noise we make, the more people will awaken with open eyes to the pollution threatening our communities and demand solutions.

Ben McCue
Coastal Campaign Program Manager

Fact Sheet on the Tijuana River Watershed

• The Tijuana River Watershed is approximately 1750 square-miles: 2/3 in Mexico and 1/3 in United States
• Tijuana is an average of 300 ft. higher in elevation than San Diego
• For decades, raw sewage and urban runoff from Tijuana has made the border beaches of Imperial Beach and Coronado among the most contaminated in the United States (Heal the Bay’s State of the Beach Report).
• Tijuana is Mexico’s fifth largest city with a population nearing 2 million.
• Between 40 and 50% of Tijuana does not have sewage collection and conveyance infrastructure.
• Approximately 55 mgd (million gallons /day) of sewage is collected in Tijuana.
? 30 mgd is conveyed to the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant (SABWWTP) located on the coast 6 miles south of Tijuana. 25 mgd receives treatment at the SABWWTP and is then mixed with the 5 mgd of untreated sewage and discharged into a creek which drains directly into the ocean.
? 25 mgd is conveyed to the International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP) in San Ysidro, where it is treated to an advanced primary level and discharged into the ocean through the South Bay Ocean Outfall (SBOO) 3 ½ miles off Imperial Beach in 93’ of water.
• Research from SDSU concludes that the discharges from the SBOO have little or no affect on beach water quality in Imperial Beach or Coronado (Gersberg). However, Bajagua, the only project that has been proposed as a solution, will mainly treat the wastewater from the outfall and will not collect any of the toxic discharges from the Tijuana River.
• The $600 million Bajagua project will not prevent beach closures.
• Although discharges from the Tijuana River account for only a small percentage of total gauged runoff into Southern California ocean waters, they contain the highest concentration of suspended solids, heavy metals and PCBs among the eight largest creeks and rivers in Southern California (SCCWRP 1992)
• Tijuana does not have a separate sewage/storm drain system. During rains, everything combines, overflows and runs straight downhill to the river.
• During an average ½” wet-weather event, the Tijuana River will generate flows exceeding 2000 mgd. Flows in the river over 13 mgd do not get collected or treated and continue to empty straight into the ocean.
• A pilot channel dug by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) was created to better facilitate the passage of this contaminated and sewage-laden storm-water into the ocean.
• This past year Imperial Beach registered 83 beach-closure days and Coronado 55.
• So far this year, the best and most frequented surf spot in Imperial Beach, Boca Rio, has been closed for approximately 1/2 of the winter surf season.