IB EAGLE-TIMES/CROSS BORDER POLLUTION THREATENS BEACHES

IMPERIAL BEACH EAGLE & TIMES

Cross-Border Pollution Threatens Beaches, Economy

June 1, 2006

http://www.eaglenewsca.com/articles/2006/06/01/news/news02.txt

by Nina McDonald

Part 1 of a series examining border pollution and sewage treatment solutions. Part 1 is an introduction to some of the causes of beach pollution that affect Imperial Beach and Coronado.

While Congress dukes out guest worker and illegal alien amnesty bills, a major threat to health and safety slips across the bprder daily - pollution.

It's no secret that Imperial Beach and Coronado are affected by pollution that originates south of the border in Mexico. Compounded by explosive population growth in Tijuana, Tijuana's deficient municipal infrastructure and an inadequate sewage processing plant on the U.S. side of the border, the situation is getting exponentially worse, with no comprehensive solution in sight.

Over 20 million gallons a day (mgd) of contaminated water from un-plumbed colonias - shanty towns located on the hillsides of Tijuana overlooking Imperial Beach - flows into the Tijuana River Valley watershed into the Pacific Ocean and from there onto Southern California beaches. According to Serge Dedina of WiLDCOAST, a non-profit environmental organization based in IB, the total since January 1 of this year is just over 500 million gallons.

“It's overwhelming the existing [sewage and diverter] structures. [The sewage] has always been a problem, but now even more - it's not just a wet weather problem,” said Dedina during a recent tour of the Tijuana River Valley.

IB residents have learned to anticipate beach closures every time there is a heavy rain, but according to Dedina, illegal sewage dumping by developers in east Tijuana may be exacerbating the problem.

“We're trying to get a handle on understanding why the water is being polluted even when it doesn't rain. For three months we have been gauging spikes in the [sewage] flow at night. We have anecdotal evidence from someone who lives in east Tijauna that there is sewage dumping into the sewers at night. We are going to try and investigate this,” said Dedina.

“But in western Tijuana there are thousands of people who have no sewage hookups, who are basically using outhouses and dumping wastewater onto the street, where the sewage is continuously flowing into the valley on this side of the border.”

Current conditions forced the closure of Imperial Beach's shoreline for at least part of the Memorial Day weekend. Local business owner Tim Townsley of TNT Surfboards reported that the coastal pollution directly impacted his business on what should have been one of the busiest weekends of the year.

“We've gone two weeks without a walk-in sale. I am directly affected by the condition of water. This time of the year we usually sell a board a day.

Normally, on Memorial Day weekend we would have dozens of people walking in. Take a look in the ocean - there's nobody out there. The media reports the closures every day on the news, so we don't get anyone coming down here,” said Townsend. “I'm looking for federal disaster relief. I'm not kidding. There are businesses in this town that are directly affected by this. Some congressman, somebody, ought to do something about this.”

Dedina said, “The city of IB has been marginalized, not just the surfers. Coronado Beach has also been closed 77 days over the last two years. Navy SEAL Teams are getting sick and last year moved some of their training up to Oceanside. Border Patrol officers are getting sick because they have to wade through this stuff. Kids can't go down to the beach in IB. People can't ride their horses through the river valley. We should be able to enjoy the beach and the valley.”

Walking towards the border fence in the Tijuana River Valley, you smell it before you can see it. About 25 yards from the banks of the Tijuana River on the U. S side, an acrid, sickly-sweet chemical smell reaches one's nose. Within a few minutes eyes start to burn and a vague feeling of nausea begins. “This is what you smell if you go out into the waves out by the pier. It's the same stench,” explained Dedina.

There has been no heavy rain for several weeks, except for a light shower a week or so ago, and yet the water surges past, muddy brown and churning with an artificially sudsy topcoat, carrying plastic bottles and other pieces of trash.

Farther downstream in Smugglers Gulch and Los Laureles Canyon (also called Goat Canyon), diverter pools, meant to channel storm water overflows into pipes for sewage processing, are clogged with sediment, old tires and more trash. The water pours untreated over the cement diverter, directly onto the beach two miles away. “Twenty years ago there were 50y families living in Los Laureles. Now there are 75,000 people living there in unimaginable poverty. They have no sewage system to speak of. This is not rocket science. We need to collect the raw sewage and keep it out of the ocean,” said Dedina. Easier said than done. Examining the border sewage issue is like entering a labyrinth.

Attempts to solve the problem go back at least 30 years, and involve hundreds of players including enterprising businessmen, highly paid lobbyists, local politicians, and environmental groups. And with 80 percent of the Tijuana River Valley watershed located just south of the US-Mexico border, no solution is possible without Mexico's cooperation and support.

Another source of pollution is the sewage run-off from the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant, located approximately four miles south of the border. This plant pumps approximately 17 mgd of sewage treated only to the primary level mixed with raw sewage runoff directly into the surf. While ocean currents generally keep this pollution further south, some does eventually reach US shores.

However, Mexico is not alone in polluting coastal waters. San Diego County and IB also contribute their share to the mess. The International Wastewater Treatment Plant on this side of the border pumps 25 mgd into the South Bay Outfall Pipe that dumps the sewage three miles offshore at a depth of 90 feet. This sewage is also treated only at a primary level, and has been in violation of EPA health standards since it began pumping. The flow from the pipe can be seen as a dark brown plume just off shore.

Another source of pollution is agricultural run-off from border-area sod farms and stables that add up to about 7,000 gallons a day according to Dedina.

A proposed solution, the Bajagua wastewater treatment plant, has been vigorously denounced by Imperial Beach's city council and Dedina and just as vigorously defended by it's proponents, Mexican businessman Enrique Landa, U.S. developer Jim Simmons and US representatives Bob Filner (D-San Diego), Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego) and the ousted Duke Cunningham (R-San Diego) as well as Brian Bilbray, who is both a former IB mayor and a former Republican Congressman.

Trying to separate fact from fiction and passion from prejudice in the battle to stop pollution is difficult. At least there is one tool now available to both government representatives and concerned civilians that reveals just how much pollution is flowing into the ocean, where it's coming from and where it's ending up.

In 2004 Scripps institute of Oceanography launched “plume tracker” website dedicated to monitoring the outflow of pollution from the Tijuana River Valley and the San Antonio plant. “This changes everything,” said Dedina.

“It really gives us an accurate real-time look at how the plume is affecting our beaches' quality. Now we have real information determining how and when the water is polluted. This allows the lifeguards to close and open the beaches quicker. It's also shown how susceptible Coronado is to the pollution. We knew IB had a problem, but this has really opened our eyes to how quickly the plume hits Coronado when there is a south swell.”

Ben McCue, Coastal Conservation Program Manager for WiLDCOAST, an avid surfer, has suffered with ear infections since surfing off IB's coast. “I think this water quality issue overshadows - everything; tourism, real-estate, property values,” said McCue. “It's really the biggest problem in San Diego County today. This is something that needs national attention.”

Part 2 will cover the pros and cons of the proposed Bajagua plant.