For first time ever, stench from border sewage plant leads county to cite operator

San Diego County air regulators say that the federal agency and the contractor managing the wastewater pump on the U.S.-Mexico border has broken state law and caused a public nuisance, following a surge of complaints about odors from the Tijuana River Valley.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the San Diego County Air Pollution District said that the International Boundary and Water Commission failed to properly maintain the Hollister Wastewater Pump Station, a facility responsible for transferring cross-border sewage to its treatment facility.

This is the first time the district has issued a nuisance violation to the IBWC – a move that local leaders, including a scientist and clean water advocate, say signals that regulators are taking health risks from the sewage spill more seriously.  It comes as local leaders and advocates continue to pressure the agency and lawmakers to fast track the funds needed to repair the failing infrastructure responsible for discharging billions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Tijuana River and the Pacific Ocean.

“All San Diego County residents have a right to enjoy clean air without being affected by foul odors,” said Paula Forbis, SDAPCD Air Pollution Control Officer. “SDAPCD recognizes this is a complex and longstanding issue, but we will enforce our rules to ensure that South San Diego County residents are not burdened by odors from improper maintenance of the plant.”

When the pump broke down mid-June it discharged over 300,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the Tijuana River Valley. Officials say that since the event, the IBWC failed to contain the additional untreated sewage, resulting in additional discharge into the river.

The county began an investigation after it received some 150 complaints about the odor since July 21. On Wednesday it issued the violation.

A spokesman for the IBWC issued a statement saying they are reviewing the notice: 

“The USIBWC is committed to making sure the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant complies with all federal, state, and local laws while we repair, rehabilitate, and expand the facility to address issues related to transboundary flows originating in Tijuana,” the statement reads.

Kimberly Prather, a marine chemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who has been widely recognized for her studies on aerosols, says that health officials have overlooked the impact of how water pollution can affect the air, and in turn cause illness.

“When people get sick or infected with something, they think of food and water right away, but they don’t think of the air,” Prather said. That, she added, is “kind of crazy, because our main exposure route is the air, 11,000 liters of air per day we breathe versus two liters of water that we drink.”

Prather is about to launch a study that will analyze what exactly is in the air as a result of the discharge of untreated sewage into the Tijuana River Valley and how far it actually travels.

She says that a strong smell can be an indicator, but it may not tell you exactly how toxic the air is. But she says studies of health impacts on wastewater treatment workers show that what they are breathing can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal issues. And given how much sewage ends up in the river and ocean, she says the conditions people are facing are not that different.

“It’s not a far stretch,” Prather said. “I just think we have to listen to the public. And when you listen to them they have all kinds of complaints about how they’re feeling. So I think we have to take it seriously.”

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre says the notice is a step in the right direction. Aguirre traveled to the U.S. Capitol this year to convince federal lawmakers of the need to allot funds to address the sewage leaks that have now been going on for decades.

“I think this just highlights what we’ve been calling for a long time now, that there be an emergency declaration,” Aguirre said. “We can’t even breathe.”

Aguirre has been calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Biden to declare the cross-border sewage crisis a state of emergency in order to funnel the money needed to repair the plant as fast as possible.

San Diego Coastkeeper Executive Director Phillip Musegaas, who has echoed Aguirre’s call, says he strongly supports the district’s action.

“IBWC’s negligence and inability to repair its neglected and broken sewage treatment system is directly contributing to a growing public health crisis and must be addressed,” Musegaas said.

Earlier this year Coastkeeper and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation filed a lawsuit against the IBWC saying the agency is violating the Clean Water Act. The lawsuit is ongoing, and Musegaas says the IBWC filed a motion to delay the case till October.

A county official says that state law nuisance violations, like the one they issued, can result in monetary penalties, but that it has yet to issue any fines as it is an ongoing investigation.