{"id":376280,"date":"2026-06-26T20:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T20:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376280\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T20:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T20:38:09","slug":"locals-dont-get-in-and-tourists-dont-know-residents-protest-sewage-crisis-on-nascar-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376280\/","title":{"rendered":"“Locals don’t get in, and tourists don’t know,” Residents protest sewage crisis on NASCAR weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> While the flags waved high at NASCAR, residents raised signs in the air to alert racing fans to the cross-border sewage crisis affecting local beaches.<\/p>\n

With an estimated 125,000 visitors coming to the island for NASCAR, it seemed like a great way to raise awareness to the issue, said Leslie Crawford, who organized the protest with friends Marvel Harrison and Amber Riddell. Protesters held signs with QR codes linking to air and water quality reports from Emerald Keepers<\/a> and a substack with links and resources.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe three of us were swimming at the community center pool on Monday, and it took me 20 minutes to get there because of all of the NASCAR trucks,\u201d said Crawford. \u201cI thought, let\u2019s use this event to raise awareness. A lot of people have no idea!\u201d<\/p>\n

So far this year, Coronado beaches have been closed more than 100 days. Just last month, the repeated collapse of a Tijuana wastewater line resulted in \u201cexcessive\u201d flows to the main wastewater treatment plant. Coronado beaches turned murky with what appeared to be brown and yellow sewage foam and were subsequently closed.<\/p>\n

Coronado beaches close as sewage treatment plant hit with \u2018excessive\u2019 flows<\/a><\/p>\n

But many people aren\u2019t aware of the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocals don\u2019t get in, and tourists don\u2019t know,\u201d said Amber Riddell, whose husband grew up going to the beach in Coronado. \u201cThis is a bi-partisan issue. Everyone needs clean water.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said many locals who grew up surfing in Coronado had to stop visiting local beaches because they were getting intestinal and ear infections. Then there are the stories of people getting flesh-eating bacteria.<\/p>\n

Flesh Eating Bacterial Infection Extinguishes the Dreams of a Former Border Patrol Agent<\/a><\/p>\n

But the polluted beaches aren\u2019t just a problem for locals. Basic Underwater Demolition\/SEAL (BUD\/S) candidates who come from all over the country are exposed to the contamination.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Marvel Harrison, an Imperial Beach resident who has been involved in raising awareness for the sewage crisis, says the toxic gas \u2014 called hydrogen sulfide, which often smells like rotten eggs \u2014 is a big concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople keep talking about the bad smell, but it\u2019s more than a bad smell. It\u2019s a toxic gas,\u201d she said. \u201cHydrogen sulfide was the first chemical warfare gas used in World War I.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Imperial Beach resident Marvel Harrison waves a sign at motorists on the way to NASCAR.<\/p>\n

She said the residents of South Bay have been suffering for years from exposure to the toxic gas. It\u2019s problematic for day-to-day living because it affects everyone, regardless if they go in the water or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can choose not to go into the water, and that\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d said Harrison. \u201cBut I can\u2019t choose not to breathe. This should be a huge source of shame for the state of California.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she says this is a crisis that can be corrected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been treating sewage for 100 years,\u201d she said. \u201cSo why aren\u2019t we doing it? And stop blaming Mexico. Yes, it\u2019s coming from Mexico, but now it\u2019s our problem. It\u2019s our beaches and our air.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said U.S.-owned manufacturing companies in Tijuana are driving rapid population growth in the region \u2014 which is quickly outpacing any improvements in infrastructure. According to the Global Migration Center, these companies are attracting more than 80,000 new residents to Tijuana each year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This means more sewage in a system that\u2019s already crumbling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have more than 700 manufacturing companies in Tijuana, and 80% of them are U.S.-owned,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile these manufacturing companies aren\u2019t responsible for the infrastructure that\u2019s been broken for decades, they are the cause of the crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison believes that U.S. politicians need to push hard on the American-owned factories, because they have the potential to help fix the problem.<\/p>\n

And then, there are all the chemicals. According to scientific research, more than 175 toxic chemicals<\/a> are found in water samples collected from the Tijuana River Valley \u2014 many from manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe even more important is the dumping of all the \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 and carcinogens and the life-long toxicities in the ground water systems,\u201d she said. \u201cAll the fentanyl and all the meth\u2026it\u2019s been measured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison says she\u2019s glad that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin visited the region<\/a>, as he is the highest-profile politician that\u2019s ever come to assess the situation. But more needs to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there are lots of the right things being said, but until the air is clean, the water is clean, the marine life is protected, our Navy SEALs and Border Patrol are protected, I\u2019m not buying it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Crawford said that the feedback from those driving to NASCAR was very positive. And she feels like they are accomplishing their goal: keeping the sewage crisis at the top of mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sick of this,\u201d said Crawford. \u201cI felt kind of powerless up to this point. But maybe there is something we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the flags waved high at NASCAR, residents raised signs in the air to alert racing fans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75,76194],"class_list":["post-376280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-tijuana-sewage-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}