Erin Brockovich Gets Down on Gov. Newsom for Failing to Deal With Tijuana – San Diego Sewage Crisis

From SanDiegoVille / August 12, 2024

Erin Brockovich, the renowned environmental activist portrayed by Julia Roberts in the film about her life, recently took to social media to criticize California Governor Gavin Newsom for what she sees as his lack of attention to the ongoing Tijuana/San Diego sewage crisis.

In a Facebook post shared to her profile on Monday, Brockovich highlighted the escalating Tijuana/San Diego sewage crisis, calling out Governor Newsom: “Maybe Governor Newsom should stay in California and fix what’s broken here before traipsing across the country pandering to the rich and powerful.”

The crisis, which has plagued the San Diego region for years, continues to wreak havoc on the environment and public health. San Diego’s South County city of Imperial Beach has had its beach continually closed due to persistent sewage pollution from the Tijuana River. This contamination has caused dangerously high levels of bacteria in the ocean water, forcing beach closures for over 900 consecutive days. The International Boundary and Water Commission has reported that more than 100 billion gallons of untreated sewage, industrial waste, and urban runoff have flowed into the Tijuana Estuary and the Pacific Ocean through the Tijuana River and its tributaries over the past five years.

“As of December 18, 2023, Imperial Beach, California has been closed due to sewage pollution from the Tijuana River, which has caused high levels of bacteria in the ocean water,” continued Brockovich. “The closures have lasted more than 900 days, and the issue is due to sewage treatment failures in both Mexico and the United States. The pollution has also led to hazardous air and water quality, and pungent smells.”

This ongoing issue is not just an environmental disaster; it’s also a glaring example of how infrastructure neglect can spiral into a full-blown crisis. Were it the result of a hurricane or wildfire, the situation might have warranted a declaration of emergency, unlocking federal recovery funds to address the environmental damage, threats to public health, and the significant loss of tourism revenue. Instead, local communities, beachgoers, and politicians are left to agonize over the slow-moving efforts to upgrade infrastructure on both sides of the border.

The International Wastewater Treatment Plant, an overworked and underfunded facility on the U.S. side of the border, has struggled under the increased volume of sewage piped in from Mexico over the past two years. The plant, which belongs to the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), is designed to treat 25 million gallons of sewage per day. However, recent infrastructure breakdowns in Tijuana and Tropical Storm Hilary in 2023 have further strained the plant, reducing its capacity to 22.7 million gallons per day this year.

Morgan Rogers, the area operations manager for the IBWC’s San Diego field office, noted that every gallon treated by the plant is a gallon that doesn’t flow untreated into the ocean, whether from the Tijuana River or further south in Tijuana itself. Although a $30 million upgrade is underway, and a $400 million expansion is planned with federal funds to double the plant’s capacity, the project will still require an additional $200 million to be fully completed.

Meanwhile, just across the border, the Mexican state of Baja California is also grappling with its own sewage infrastructure failures. Tijuana’s sewage system, strained by decades of neglect as the city’s population exploded from 65,000 in 1950 to around 2 million today, has been a significant contributor to the pollution problem. The San Antonio de los Buenos sewage treatment plant in Tijuana, which is severely deteriorated, currently discharges between 23 and 27 million gallons of minimally treated sewage into the ocean every day. Additionally, roughly 50 million gallons per day of sewage-contaminated water flow from the Tijuana River toward Imperial Beach.

Despite these alarming figures, Mexican officials have pledged to address the crisis. Baja California has committed to investing $530 million in sewage infrastructure from 2023 to 2027, with the most crucial repairs expected to be completed soon. A new $33.3 million sewage treatment plant is also under construction and is scheduled to be operational by September 30, 2024.

The ongoing pollution has not only devastated the local environment but also severely impacted the economy, particularly in working-class communities like Imperial Beach, where tourism is a crucial source of income. The beach has effectively been closed for more than three years, with bright yellow warning signs posted to keep people out of the contaminated water. The crisis has deprived local surfers of waves and the city of crucial summer tourism revenue.

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, herself a bodyboarder, expressed frustration with the lack of action from state and federal officials, suggesting that if the crisis were affecting a wealthier, predominantly white community, it would have been resolved long ago. “We are primarily a working-class community; we’re primarily a brown community. We’re a border community,” Aguirre said, highlighting the socio-economic and racial disparities in how the crisis has been handled.

San Diego’s affluent island city of Coronado has also been severely impacted by the ongoing pollution. Between June 3, 2023, and June 3, 2024, Coronado beaches were under water contact closures for 169 days, according to San Diego County’s Beach and Bay Program. The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality most recently issued a water contact closure for the Coronado shoreline in early July right before the busy Independence Day holiday. These closures are enforced when sewage or chemical spills are known to contaminate ocean waters, prompting the Department of Health and Quality to advise beachgoers to avoid any contact with the affected waters.

Just last week, high bacteria levels caused water contact closures at several San Diego beaches, including Silver Stand Shoreline and Imperial Beach. Water contact advisories were concurrently issued for beaches in La Jolla, Coronado, Mission Bay and Vacation Isle.

Brockovich’s public condemnation of Governor Newsom adds another layer of urgency to the situation, drawing national attention to a crisis that has, for too long, been ignored. As the sewage crisis drags on, the impact on the environment, public health, and local economies continues to grow. The situation in San Diego serves as a stark reminder of the critical need for effective environmental policies and infrastructure, both locally and globally. Erin Brockovich’s call for accountability underscores the importance of addressing these issues before they cause even more harm.