Feds find Tijuana River pollution poses public health hazard in San Diego

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Mourning Song

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

A federal health assessment found hydrogen sulfide levels from Tijuana River pollution exceeded the odor threshold in 93% of samples at monitoring sites, with one reading in September 2024 far surpassing the level linked to health effects in humans. The agency concluded the exposure constitutes a public health hazard capable of causing headaches, nausea and respiratory congestion in nearby residents.

San Diego County officials say the finding confirms years of resident complaints about sulfurous odors as Tijuana's sewage infrastructure failed to keep pace with growth. The county has already approved its own Capture and Clean Initiative to build sewage treatment on the U.S. side and distributed 14,500 free air purifiers, rather than wait further on cross-border fixes.

The agency could not determine whether exposure before September 2024 harmed residents, citing a lack of earlier data. A 60-day public comment period on the report runs through Nov. 21.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

It took a federal agency putting a number on the smell before anyone official would say what the neighborhood had been telling itself for two years. The county didn't wait around for that number either, it went ahead and started building its own fix before the report even landed. That's usually how it goes: the paperwork catches up to the people who already had to live with it.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Mourning Song · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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