SAN DIEGO \u2014 For Billy Waller, the beach in Imperial Beach was a place where he grew up surfing, swimming and exploring.<\/p>\n
Now, he brings his 10-year-old son to the same beach, but keeps him out of the water. Waller remembers surfing in the area as a teenager, even when the water became polluted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been polluted pretty much the whole time,\u201d Waller said. \u201cNever this bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tijuana River carries sewage and other contaminants across the U.S.- Mexico border and into the Pacific Ocean. Failures and infrastructure problems have worsened the decades-old crisis on both sides of the border.<\/p>\n
For residents of Imperial Beach and nearby communities, the pollution isn\u2019t limited to the ocean.<\/p>\n
Toxic gases add another layer to the crisis<\/p>\n
Several miles inland, near the Tijuana River Valley, contaminated water can also contribute to airborne pollution.<\/p>\n
One area near Saturn Boulevard has been identified as a hotspot where the river\u2019s flow can create turbulence, aerosolizing contaminants and sending them into the air.<\/p>\n
Berry Elementary School is less than a mile from the area.<\/p>\n
Kayla Roberts has two young sons who attend the school. She said the family can sometimes smell the pollution \u2014 and school staff take precautions when conditions are particularly bad.<\/p>\n
On days when the smell is strong, Roberts said students may skip their normal outdoor morning lineup and go directly into their classrooms.<\/p>\n
The school also uses air purifiers and keeps the air conditioning running, she said.<\/p>\n
Health concerns have become a major focus of the crisis. San Diego County officials have been pushing for additional research into how exposure to pollutants is affecting people living near the river.<\/p>\n
San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre has called the situation a public health emergency and said she wants more resources devoted to treating the pollution on the U.S. side of the border.<\/p>\n
California puts new money toward the crisis<\/p>\n
There has been some recent movement at the state level.<\/p>\n
In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $46 million in voter-approved Proposition 4 funding for projects addressing cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River and New River watersheds. But local officials said the money is only part of what is needed.<\/p>\n
Aguirre has repeatedly called on the governor to declare a state of emergency over the Tijuana River crisis.<\/p>\n
She said a state emergency declaration could help unlock additional resources and coordination.<\/p>\n
The crisis has also become an issue in California\u2019s gubernatorial race. Both Republican candidate Steve Hilton and Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra have pledged to declare a state of emergency if elected, according to Aguirre\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, local leaders are looking at ways to capture and treat contaminated flows before they reach the ocean rather than relying entirely on infrastructure and cooperation across the border.<\/p>\n
Aguirre is also backing health studies designed to better understand the long-term effects of exposure on residents.<\/p>\n
A childhood lost<\/p>\n
For Waller, the debate over funding and infrastructure comes back to something much simpler.<\/p>\n
His son can\u2019t experience the same childhood he had.<\/p>\n
Standing on the beach, Waller watched his son build sandcastles instead of surfing in the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lost childhood,\u201d he said. \u201cMy son will never get to experience all the things I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
For families living near the Tijuana River, the hope is that the next generation won\u2019t have to make the same choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 For Billy Waller, the beach in Imperial Beach was a place where he grew up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[26528,36621,7,643,74,76,75,5999,136,5996],"class_list":["post-443956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-anna-albaryan","tag-app-environment","tag-california","tag-environment","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443956","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=443956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}