Carlos Saldanha, Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, Benjamin Bottani and Zachary Levi
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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.”
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Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for Deadpool & Wolverine, San Diego Comic-Con and Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Harold and the Purple Crayon special screening
Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery and Benjamin Bottani joined director Carlos Saldanha at a special Los Angeles screening for their Columbia Pictures film on Sunday.
Carlos Saldanha, Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, Benjamin Bottani and Zachary Levi
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel and Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Deadpool & Wolverine premiere
Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Matthew Macfadyen, Aaron Stanford, Brianna Hildebrand, Lewis Tan and Tyler Mane joined director Shawn Levy and producer Kevin Feige at the Marvel film’s New York premiere on Monday, with support from Blake Lively and Gigi Hadid.
Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin and Ryan Reynolds
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Disney
Blake Lively and Gigi Hadid
Noam Galai/Getty Images for Disney
Shawn Levy, Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman and Disney chief brand officer Asad Ayaz
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Disney
San Diego Comic-Con
The annual comics convention kicked off in San Diego with stars from Deadpool & Wolverine, Transformers One, Planet of the Apes, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, What We Do in the Shadows and Those About to Die.
Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Shawn Levy onstage during Marvel Studios: The Ultimate ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Celebration of Life in Hall H.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
Keegan-Michael Key, Brian Tyree Henry and Chris Hemsworth speak during the ‘Transformers One’ panel.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Mark Proksch, Paul Simms, Kristen Schaal, Kyle Newacheck and Matt Berry at FX’s ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Vampire Residence.
Araya Doheny/Getty Images
Iwan Rheon, Gabriella Pession, Jojo Macari, Dimitri Leonidas, Sara Martins, Moe Hashim and Roland Emmerich, at ‘Those About to Die: The Chariot Race’ activation.
Christine Bartolucci/Peacock
Kevin Durand, Owen Teague, Freya Allan and Peter Macon attend the ‘Planet of The Apes’ Experience.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios
RuPaul’s DragCon LA
World of Wonder hosted the annual RuPaul’s DragCon across Friday and Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, featuring performances, signings and meet and greets with fan-favorite Queens and a Friday night DJ set with RuPaul himself.
Michelle Visage, RuPaul and queens from ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Gottmik
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Whoopi Goldberg Key to West Hollywood
Whoopi Goldberg received the Key to West Hollywood on Saturday for her consistent support of the LGBTQIA+ community and for having had the first branded/tested woman-owned cannabis brand in California. Later that night, Goldberg celebrated the launch of WhoopFam’s new cannabis brand, Emma & Clyde, and the relaunch of her Whoopi & Maya brand in Venice, with guests including Leslie Jones, Jo Koy and Meagan Good.
Chelsea Byer, Whoopi Goldberg, Joshua Marin-Mora and Jason Beck
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Leslie Jones and Whoopi Goldberg
Peach Hill Media
Room to Grow brunch
Room to Grow, with co-hosts Uma Thurman, Catherine Carmody, Rashaan Reid and Nancy Twine gathered supporters over a private brunch in Water Mill, New York, on Saturday. The organization provides critical support to families raising babies born into low-income circumstances.
Uma Thurman, Gayle King, Nancy Twine and Room to Grow CEO Akilah King
Marsin Mogielski
God’s Love We Deliver party
God’s Love We Deliver, which provides nutritious, medically tailored meals for people too sick to shop or cook for themselves, celebrated the 23rd annual Midsummer Night Drinks on Saturday at the East Hampton home of Lisa and James Cohen, in partnership with GALERIE magazine.
Kyle MacLachlan, Desiree Gruber, David Ludwigson, Lisa Cohen and James Cohen
courtesy of God’s Love We Deliver
War Game HamptonsFilm SummerDocs Series screening
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin attended the HamptonsFilm SummerDocs Series screening of War Game on Saturday in East Hampton.
Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Baldwin
Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images
DÌDI (弟弟) special screening
The cast and crew of Focus Features’ DÌDI (弟弟), including writer-director Sean Wang and stars Joan Chen and Izaac Wang, celebrated the film with a special screening in L.A. on Monday.
Sean Wang, Izaac Wang and Joan Chen
Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Focus Features
Pee-wee’s Playhouse Reunion
Paul Reubens’ former Pee-wee’s Playhouse castmates reunited to honor the late comedy legend at The Groundlings Theater in L.A. on Monday.
Suzanne Kent, Tracy Newman, Bob Drew, Lynne Marie Stewart, Doug Cox, Laraine Newman, George McGrath, Joan Leizman, John Moody, Jessica Pohly, and Phil LaMarr
Courtesy of The Groundlings
Dress My Tour premiere
Kathy Hilton, Toni Braxton and Dr. Holly Carter hosted a celebration for the premiere of Dress My Tour, Hulu’s first reality competition show, on Tuesday.
Dr. Holly Carter, Kathy Hilton and Toni Braxton
Christopher Polk
Sing Sing special screening
Colman Domingo and co-star Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin attended an intimate screening of A24’s Sing Sing in NYC on Tuesday, with a conversation moderated by Bevy Smith.
Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin and Bevy Smith
Courtesy of Kristina Bumphrey
The Decameron premiere event
Netflix celebrated the launch of The Decameron, with stars Tanya Reynolds, Jessica Plummer, Amar Chadha-Patel, Douggie McMeekin, Lou Gala, Karan Gill, Zosia Mamet, Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Tony Hale, in N.Y. on Wednesday.
Tanya Reynolds, Douggie McMeekin, Lou Gala, Kathleen Jordan, Karan Gill, Amar Chadha-Patel, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Zosia Mamet, Tony Hale and Jessica Plummer
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix
Deadpool & Wolverine Dogpool screening
Following Monday night’s world premiere, Dogpool (played by Peggy the dog) and Leslie Uggams returned to N.Y. on Wednesday to host a second screening of the upcoming Marvel film, where guests were encouraged to bring their own pups.
Peggy the dog and Leslie Uggams
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Disney
Alok screening
UTA held a screening of short documentary Alok on Wednesday, followed by a Q&A with director Alex Hedison and star Alok Vaid-Menon. The conversation was moderated by executive producer Jodie Foster.
Alex Hedison, Alok Vaid-Menon and Jodie Foster
Roger Kisby
Love Island USA Universal Studios trip
Following the season finale of Peacock’s Love Island USA, Islanders were reunited at Universal Studios Hollywood on Thursday for the first time since leaving the villa.
Robert Rausch, Kordell Beckham, Serena Page, JaNa Craig, Kenny Rodriguez, Nicole Jacky, Kendall Washington, Leah Kateb and Kaylor Martin
Randy Shropshire/Peacock
Jonathan Van Ness x WhatsApp
Jonathan Van Ness took over The Americana at Brand in L.A. with WhatsApp on Thursday to celebrate the app hitting 100 million active users in the U.S.
Jonathan Van Ness
Courtesy of WhatsApp
San Diego District 2 City Councilmember Jennifer Campbell introduced an ordinance proposal Thursday that would require any new or significantly renovated facilities on city property — such as libraries, parks, beaches and recreation centers — to offer all-gender restrooms with clear signage.
Two years ago, California gave cities and counties the power to adopt such policies.
State law already requires existing public single-toilet stalls be all-gender. This ordinance would go a step farther by mandating an all-gender option for all newly constructed projects.
Philadelphia passed a similar ordinance in 2019.
Campbell’s policy advisor, Manuel Reyes, pitched the idea.
“Any public facility should have access because it’s a basic human necessity that all of us experience,” he said.
Reyes said restroom access is not just a matter of safety for trans people, but also of public health.
“Holding it all day” can cause urinary tract infections and dehydration, he said.
San Diego LGBT Community Center staff member Karina Piu called the proposed ordinance an active rebuke of national trends.
It stands in contrast to the bills passed in a dozen states in recent years, which require a person to use the bathroom of the sex assigned to them at birth.
President Biden put a ban on such blanket policies in April, but it faces legal challenges.
While the debate over all-gender restrooms is often focused on trans and gender non-conforming people, they’re also more accessible for caregivers of people needing restroom assistance, like small children, elderly people or people with disabilities.
“For example, a father, out with his daughter, and she has to go to the bathroom. What does he do?” Campbell said. “He doesn’t want to take her in the men’s room, and he can’t go in the ladies’ room. So having all-gender bathrooms is a good solution for everyone.”
And, they help fight a universal enemy: long bathroom lines.
Public comment at the Community and Neighborhood Services Committee meeting was overwhelmingly in support.
One commenter said she was concerned about safety, but said if the restrooms were single-stall it wouldn’t matter.
Campbell signaled the restrooms would be single-stall, saying: “That is the idea.”
Several more public commenters used the topic to ask the committee to address what they saw as a larger issue: the inadequate number of public restrooms in the city overall, which grand juries have repeatedly recommended to help mitigate public outbreaks of hepatitis A, shigella, and COVID-19.
The committee unanimously directed city staff to draft the ordinance.
Reyes said some of the first affected projects would be the expansion of the Ocean Beach Library, the upcoming rebuild of the San Carlos Library, and the Ocean Beach Pier rebuild.
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