San Diego, CA
San Diego County faces multifront health threat amid transboundary sewage flow from Mexico
A transboundary sewage stream that regularly flows from Tijuana, Mexico, into San Diego County may be creating a multifrontal public health crisis — as a noxious mix of chemicals and pathogens makes their way into households not just via water, but also through air and soil.
The cross-border contamination — a result of inadequate infrastructure and urbanization — poses a persistent public health threat with significant socioeconomic and legal implications, according to a new white paper, shared with The Hill prior to its public release on Tuesday.
Of particular concern is the possibility of the reemergence of diseases that had previously been eradicated in California, microbes carrying antibiotic-resistant genes and industrial chemicals that have long been banned in the U.S., per the authors.
“I don’t go to Imperial Beach anymore — I used to go all the time, quite frequently,” lead author Paula Stigler Granados, an associate professor at San Diego State University’s School of Public Health, told The Hill.
“As a scientist, when you know, it’s really hard to turn that brain off,” she continued. “Especially now that we’re talking about the contaminants becoming aerosolized, it really has me paused.”
Aerosolization refers to the suspension of waterborne pathogens and compounds in the air — a mounting concern in Southern California’s Imperial Beach, a border-adjacent city that has borne the brunt of an unrelenting transboundary sewage crisis.
The fetid flow, which results from insufficient sewage treatment on the Mexican side of the border, ends up in San Diego County both via ocean plumes and the Tijuana River Watershed — which passes through Baja California before reentering its U.S. counterpart.
Area residents have had some room for hope in recent weeks, after Mexico began overhauling an obsolete facility that releases millions of gallons of sewage daily into the Pacific Ocean.
But on the U.S. side of the border, the South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant — which treats some of Tijuana’s waste through an international treaty — is also failing to pull its weight.
Congress in 2020 allocated $300 million toward renovating the site, but officials warned that the plant requires $150 million more to function properly. President Biden then asked lawmakers this past fall to authorize an additional $310 million, but that approval has yet to occur.
Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who serves San Diego County, last month called upon Congress to approve Biden’s request, describing a situation in which sewage is spewing “dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide into the air around people’s homes.”
The congressman also requested that the San Diego-based Prebys Foundation commission the new white paper, which synthesizes about 60 reports related to the region’s wastewater woes and sheds lights on the extent of the public health crisis.
“What we realized was over the years, a lot of people had been doing research on this, but the body of it was fairly opaque,” Peters told The Hill.
The congressman said his office first became involved in this issue following the 2017 breakdown of Tijuana’s sewage infrastructure, which prompted a swell of comments on the matter from his constituents.
“We started out just getting beach closures every once a while, but it was hundreds and hundreds of days a year,” Peters said.
While border communities like Imperial Beach face the most chronic effects of the crisis, other parts of San Diego County — including the peninsular resort city of Coronado — also endure regular episodes of contamination.
Peters acknowledged that as opposed to Imperial Beach, most of his district, which includes Coronado, cannot be defined as an environmental justice community — a largely low-income or marginalized population with a disproportionate pollution burden =
But he stressed that Coronado’s beaches do serve the Latino residents of the South Bay, while also hosting Navy SEAL, U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard operations.
To that end, Peters and fellow San Diego County Democrats — Reps. Sara Jacobs, Mike Levin and Juan Vargas, the latter of whom represents Imperial Beach — recently sent a letter to Navy leadership about how the pollution is affecting SEAL training.
The writers expressed their concern that if the contamination is not curtailed, further training cancellations could occur and “harm the Navy and our military readiness.”
Since 2018, the International Boundary and Water Commission has documented more than 100 billion gallons of wastewater entering the U.S. through the Tijuana River, according to the authors of the white paper.
“It’s just a toxic soup,” Stigler Granados said.
The continuous stream of sewage, the authors stressed, has led to more than 700 consecutive days of beach closures and taken a toll on the local economy and tourism.
The contamination not only poses public health risks but also creates environmental justice issues, as border-adjacent communities are often equipped with fewer resources and face a heightened risk of chronic diseases, the authors noted.
Most under threat are vulnerable populations, including pregnant women and children, as well as lifeguards Navy personnel, first responders and border patrol agents, according to the paper.
Within the region’s soil sediments, scientists have identified more than 170 compounds — such as toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), prohibited pesticides like chlordane and DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals and phthalates.
“The pesticides that we’re finding in the environment and soil — they are banned in the U.S.,” Sigler Granados said.
Many of these chemicals “are known to be persistent, bio-accumulative, carcinogenic, toxic and can be resuspended in water and air during weather events in both the wet and dry seasons, exposing nearby communities,” according to the white paper.
Levels of arsenic and cadmium in area soil samples exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thresholds, while concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan were comparable to those in sewage sludge, per the paper.
As far as the region’s water is concerned, the white paper catalogs a smorgasbord of viruses, bacteria and parasites found in samples, including HIV, Hepatitis B and C, salmonella, vibrio, streptococcus, tuberculosis, listeria, trichomoniasis.
Also of concern to the researchers was the heightened presence of microbes carrying antibiotic-resistant genes, as well as antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli and Legionella bacteria.
In addition, they flagged an emergence of zoonotic pathogens — those that can jump from animals to humans — in bottle nosed dolphins that have died of bacteria-induced sepsis.
Water tests have also confirmed the presence of pesticides, herbicides, volatile organic compounds, acetone, methanol, xylene, plasticizers, hormones and flame retardants. Out of 392 total organic chemical contaminants identified, 224 appeared on regulatory lists, while 175 were indexed under the EPA’s Toxic Substance Control Act.
“A substantial number of contaminants of emerging concern were detected in the water for the first time,” the authors stated.
The researchers stressed that pollutants and pathogens can become airborne through aerosolization and travel long distances — entering homes, schools and businesses and reaching those who have had no direct contact with the water.
Reiterating the risks posed by this exposure pathway, the writers cited a March 2023 study, in which a University of California San Diego team showed that polluted coastal waters are ending up in the atmosphere as aerosol. While the public health threat is difficult to quantify, the researchers found that the “sea spray” mix contains bacteria, viruses and chemical compounds.
“You can respire them and breathe them in and become ill as a result of that,” Stigler Granados said, noting that these pathogens can also settle on objects like playground equipment.
Although linking environmental exposures to specific illnesses remains a challenge, Stigler Granados said that an urgent care clinic in San Diego County has been reporting upticks in gastrointestinal illnesses following storm events.
But because many of these diseases are self-limiting, county-level epidemiological surveillance would be needed to explore any potential correlations, she added.
Going forward, Stigler Granados and her colleagues called for increased air quality monitoring, community exposure investigations and U.S.-Mexico strategic plans that prioritize infrastructure.
“Investments by Congress and federal and state agencies are desperately needed,” the authors concluded.
The white paper’s conclusions may have a local, San Diego region focus, but they are indicative of a broader national problem, according to Eli Dueker, a microbe aerosolization expert who was not involved in the research.
“This is actually happening across the United States and has been a very long time,” Dueker, an associate professor of environmental and urban studies at Bard College, told The Hill.
His research focuses on the connections between water and air quality in New York’s Hudson River, as well as hazard-designated sites like the state’s Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal.
“It is a new way to think about water quality,” said Dueker. “Whether or not you engage with the water, if you’re also breathing the water, that’s a whole different ballgame.”
Dueker credited the white paper’s authors for “laying out the kinds of things that people can be exposed to,” while noting that antibiotic-resistant pathogens are present in sewage nationwide.
“I also really appreciated the fact that they center in on the communities that are most vulnerable to this,” he added. “That’s how policy should be generated.”
With regards to federal policy and the congressional funding question, Peters said he’s “pretty hopeful” that his fellow lawmakers will approve Biden’s $310 million request.
Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach, told The Hill in an email that while her city is grateful for the president’s appeal, they need more federal and state support “to tackle this public health ticking time bomb.”
From an engineering perspective, Peters explained, fixing the South Bay plant is simple, but the international border and federal funding aspect creates a complicated renovation process.
“We’ve taken as many federal officials out to the plan as we can — get them out there on a nice, stinky day,” he continued. “It’s pretty remarkable.”
If the money comes through, Peters said it will double the size of the facility and provide for ongoing maintenance. Yet in the interim, he described a status quo in which Mexico is now ahead of the U.S. in terms of treatment plant reconstruction efforts.
“It’s very fashionable to blame Mexico from Washington,” Peters said, noting that Mexico is meeting its “side of the bargain” in terms of treaty obligations.
“I don’t want to be lagging behind Mexico,” the congressman added. “They’re setting the pace, and we need to catch up.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Good morning from St. Petersburg, Fla.,
After all that happened last night, we are going to go back to the first inning and begin today’s newsletter with Manny Machado’s part in it.
In newsletters earlier this week, we discussed his importance to the Padres based on his offense.
And Machado hit a home run in last night’s second inning as part of a game in which he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
He is batting .306 with a .935 OPS over the past 60 games, a span in which the Padres have gone from three games under .500 to 17 games over. They are 22-0 this season when he has multiple RBIs.
His OPS since June 19 is third highest in the National League behind the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (1.004) and the Mets’ Francisco Lindor (.936).
Machado talked earlier this week about how much better he is feeling physically, which he reiterated last night.
“I feel pretty good right now, obviously,” said Machado, who has five home runs in his past 50 at-bats and 10 home runs in his past 120 at-bats. “My swing is where it needs to be. My body is feeling great, too. Trying to stay as consistent as I can possibly be. Hopefully, it stays like that. But you know how baseball can be. It’s up and down. So try to keep working.”
His bat is by far the biggest reason will have made more than $450 million over 15 seasons with the Padres by the time his current contract runs out in 2033. His play at third base is also widely celebrated, highly valued and will be factored in when his Hall of Fame case is considered some day.
But in the Padres’ three-run first inning last night — a wonderful baseball sequence I highlighted in my game story (here) — Machado did something that has to be talked about and is the kind of thing that probably should be talked about more.
On Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly to center field that scored Jake Cronenworth from third base, Machado tagged up from first and beat the throw to second.
The hustle paid off when Jackson Merrill singled on the next pitch and Machado scored easily from second.
Scoring Probability? 100% pic.twitter.com/wOTZO0Uoo7
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 30, 2024
The irony is that a player who is derided by many fans and media members for his sometimes-lackadaisical runs to first base does something like what he did last night fairly often.
Machado runs when he has to run. He knows when that is, and he knows how to get an edge — be it with a big lead when appropriate, taking an extra base, stealing a base or even sprinting to try to beat out an infield dribbler.
“He’s legitimately, like honestly, probably the smartest player I’ve ever been around,” Padres third base coach Tim Leiper, who has been in professional baseball since 1985, said recently.
The conviction with which Leiper speaks of Machado’s baseball IQ is something I wish could be properly conveyed in the written word.
“When he’s running by you, you realize how hard he runs and how much ground he covers,” Leiper said. “He knows exactly what he needs to do to get it done, and I trust him every single solitary time.”
Good frame
The Padres have scored nine runs in an inning twice this season. They began one of those with seven consecutive singles, and every one of those players scored. In the other, the first nine batters reached base and all of them scored.
So it might be a stretch to say last night’s three-run first inning was the best example of what the Padres’ offense has been about in 2024.
But it was incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
I wrote about it in my game story. But the details are worth mining further.
It all began with Jurickson Profar getting a piece of a 1-2 splitter from Taj Bradley and fouling it down and into Rays catcher Alex Jackson’s glove. Jackson lifted up his glove to show he had caught the ball, and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt started to go into his strikeout motion. But Profar protested the ball had hit the ground. Wendelstedt checked the ball and, seeing dirt, signaled it had been a foul.
Profar lined the next pitch over the second baseman. After Donovan Solano flied out on a drive to the wall in right field, Profar stole second while Cronenworth was up. On a 2-2 count, Cronenworth also went the other way through the hole on the left side against a splitter. Profar only made it to third after holding up because the ball appeared it might be caught by third baseman Junior Caminero.
Machado followed with another single the other way on a full-count splitter, scoring Profar and sending Cronenworth to third.
On his way back to the dugout, Profar spoke briefly with Bogaerts and then Merrill about the action on the splitter, which was not darting down in the zone.
Bogaerts hit a first-pitch cutter to center field — the sacrifice fly on which Machado advanced. The other notable aspect of that play was that Cronenworth sprinted home full speed, not because there was any way he was going to be thrown out, but because he knew he had to get there before Machado was possibly tagged out at second.
Merrill then lined a first-pitch splitter into center field to score Machado.
“It was masterful,” manager Mike Shildt said. “It was really fun. It was good baseball. The whole game, really, from an offensive standpoint, whole way. It’s how we like to compete. … It’s how the game is supposed to be played.”
Closing in
Machado’s homer was his 161st with the Padres, tying him with Adrián González and leaving him two behind Nate Colbert for most in franchise history.
“That’s huge,” Machado said when asked about pulling even with González, who played for the Padres from 2006-10 and was an Eastlake High graduate. “I mean, obviously, a San Diego great. To be on that list in such a short period of time is awesome. To be on that same level is an honor for sure.”
On the MLB all-time home run list, Machado’s 336th career homer moved him out of a tie with Darryl Strawberry and Robinson Canó and into a tie for 113th with Joe Adcock.
The ‘W’
Martín Pérez allowed four runs in the second inning and later seemed he was one batter away from being removed on two occasions. But he earned the decision by getting through five innings.
Pérez, who was 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA in 16 starts for the Pirates, is now 2-0 with a 3.41 ERA with the Padres.
The Padres have won all six of his starts, though the past three have been nothing like the first three.
First three: 18⅓ innings, 11 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 21 K, 4 HR
Past three: 13⅓ innings, 18 H, 8 R, 7 BB, 7 K, 3 HR
The mechanical changes Pérez touted early have wavered some, and it is possible opponents are picking up on the pitch mix he also held up as a reason for his improved results.
He explained last night, too, that the mound at Tropicana Field had an uncomfortable landing spot for him.
But there must be some credit for him getting through three scoreless innings on 48 pitches while allowing four base runners after it took him 53 pitches and he allowed six baserunners (and the four runs) in the first two innings.
“I was able to compete,” Pérez said. “When you don’t have your best stuff, you gotta go out there and compete. I gave five innings to my team. I was able to stop them, and we scored a lot of runs and won the game.”
Tidbits
- The four runs the Padres scored in the second inning was the 45th time they have scored at least that many runs in an inning this season, most in the majors and second most in any season in team history. They are five shy of tying the team record set in 2001.
- The Padres have gone first to third on a single 105 times this season, most in the majors.
- Last night was the fourth time the Padres scored 13 runs this season and the first since June 8. It was two shy of their season-high 15 runs against the Dodgers on March 21 in Seoul, South Korea.
- Profar reached base five times in six plate appearances last night. He followed his first-inning single with four walks to up his NL-leading on-base percentage to .384.
- Machado took over the team lead with 83 RBIs, three more than Profar. It is the first time Machado has led the team in RBIs since he was tied with Cronenworth with seven on March 31.
- Luis Campusano singled and walked twice. It was his third game this season with two walks and his first since May 25. Campusano entered last night’s game with a 35.7 percent chase rate but chased just two of 11 pitches (18 percent) outside the zone last night and has chased just five of the past 25 pitches (20 percent) he has seen outside the zone.
- David Peralta was 2-for-3 with a home run last night. He is batting .355 with a 1.000 OPS in his past 20 games (67 plate appearances).
- Merrill was 2-for-5 last night and has reached base in all but one of his past 15 games, a span in which he has batted .333 (19-for-57) with three doubles, two triples and three home runs. I wrote yesterday (here) about why the Padres have not moved him up past sixth in the batting order.
- One of those reasons is Shildt’s belief in Bogaerts, who has been slumping lately. Bogaerts was 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk last night and is batting .243 with a .301 OBP over his past 21 games. The homer was his first in 49 at-bats and his second in 108 at-bats.
- Machado, who played for the Orioles from 2012 to 2018, has pretty outstanding numbers at all of the American League East ballparks — except Tropicana Field. His big game last night improved his batting average in 54 games there to .196, and his home run was his second in 209 at-bats inside the funky dome.
- Yu Darvish, who has not pitched since May 29 while on the injured list and restricted list, threw 66 pitches in a “controlled” game against Reds minor leaguers last night at the Peoria Sports Complex. He faced 18 batters in four innings. According to the Padres, Darvish reported “feeling well after the outing.” The next step could be a rehab start, though an immediate return to the rotation has not been ruled out.
- Sean Reynolds threw 1⅔ scoreless innings last night (with help from Jeremiah Estrada stranding two inherited runners). Reynolds has not allowed a run in his past six outings (8⅓ innings). The rookie has allowed just one run in 11 innings (nine games) this season.
All right, that’s it for me. Earlier game (1:10 p.m. PT) today.
Talk to you tomorrow. Maybe. I probably need to take one of these next two nights off from the newsletter so I can catch up on some other work.
Regardless, we will have our usual coverage on our Padres page, and I will send out a Padres Daily at least two of the next three days.
P.S. If you are reading this online, please know there is an easier way to get the Padres Daily. And it is free! Sign up here to have it emailed to your inbox the morning after (almost) every game.
Manny Machado started the season dealing with an elbow injury. Then he added a hip ailment and just didn’t look like himself.
Manny Machado is now healthy and looking like the future Hall of Famer we’ve come to know and love.
Machado had another monster night in Tampa, including a historic homer, in a 13-5 San Diego rout of the Rays to start a 3-game series on the Gulf Coast. In the 2nd inning, Manny detonated a 3-run homer to right-centerfield, his 161st dinger in a Padres uniform. The blast ties him with Eastlake High School alum Adrian Gonzalez for 2nd place on the franchise’s all-time HR list, just two behind Nate Colbert.
He added a pair of singles and had plenty of help from his fellow sluggers. David Peralta continued his renaissance with a 2-run homer in the 4th inning, a no-doubter that nearly reached the scoreboard beyond the right field seats at Tropicana Field. In the 7th inning, Xander Bogaerts hit a line shot that snuck over the left field wall for his 7th homer of the year.
Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth chipped in with two hits each and Jurickson Profar showed off his supreme plate discipline, drawing four walks. It was one of the most complete offensive performances of the season for an offense that’s been among the game’s best over the last five months.
The Padres can win the series on Saturday afternoon with Randy Vasquez on the mound against Rays righty Shane Baz.
The San Diego Unified School District board plans on meeting Friday afternoon to review the results of an investigation of the district’s superintendent.
The school leader is facing misconduct allegations from former female district employees, according to NBC 7’s media partners at the Voice of San Diego, which first reported back in May that the district hired an outside firm to look into allegations against Superintendent Lamont Jackson.
Since then, the district and the board have declined to comment or provide any more details, but the VOSD cites four sources with knowledge of the matter who say the results are in and that the district is currently reviewing them and plans on a closed-door session regarding the matter at 2 p.m. on Friday.
“The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education will meet in closed session at 2 p.m. today, Aug. 30, to discuss the findings of a third-party investigation into Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson,” the district said in an email sent out on Friday morning. “Board President Shana Hazan plans to make a statement in the auditorium following the closed session meeting.”
Jackson was hired two and a half years ago, after President Joe Biden tapped Jackson’s predecessor, Cindy Marten, as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education.
As of Thursday, the teacher’s union had no comment regarding the investigation.
In May, NBC 7 reported that the district hired a Los Angeles law firm to handle the internal investigation, but the school district would not say at that time what the investigation entailed. The Voice of San Diego later reported the internal investigation was focused on Superintendent Lamont Jackson.
NBC 7 contacted SDUSD in May, and a spokesperson said in an email that the “district is precluded from commenting on personnel matters.” The station also reported at that time that it reached out to all school board members and the district’s teachers’ union, but none commented on the investigation.
The contract from the law firm, Sanchez & Amador, LLP, states the district retained the firm April 10, 2024, for representation “in sensitive internal investigations” for a rate of up to $540 per hour. At a public school board meeting on April 30, 2024, the school board approved the contract for an anticipated cost of $100,000.
The contract says attorney Lupe Valencia will have primary responsibility for the investigation. According to the law firm’s website, Valencia “directed and/or oversaw hundreds of internal investigations arising from a variety of employment-related claims, including harassment, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, code of conduct violations, and alleged fraudulent business practices…”
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