\t\t\t\t\tWhy this matters<\/p>\n
Pollution in the Tijuana River has for decades impacted communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump administration has promised to fast-track solutions.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A private company may soon be using federal dollars to launch an experimental project it hopes will reduce toxic gas from the air in the polluted Tijuana River valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But scientists who have been carrying out years of research in the watershed are raising alarms that the technology is untested and could make matters worse.<\/p>\n
Last month the International Boundary and Water Commission, which oversees a wastewater treatment facility along the U.S.-Mexico border, awarded<\/a> Ohio-based Greenwater Services an estimated $2.5 million to test their \u201cnanobubble technology\u201d method to capture contaminants in the Tijuana River. The process involves pumping ozone bubbles into water. Ozone is a gas that reacts with and can break down contaminants.<\/p>\n The company has used the method to eliminate algal blooms in lakes and touts it as \u201cchemical free\u201d and \u201csafe for humans and marine life.\u201d However, according to the IBWC\u2019s own project description, deploying this method on the Tijuana River has yet to be tested.<\/p>\n Scientists, local leaders and environmental advocates are concerned that the project has been given a greenlight by the IBWC despite a lack of data on its effectiveness or risks. They also say there has been a lack of transparency regarding the project.<\/p>\n Citing recent findings of a wide array of industrial pollutants in the river, and how chemicals from the river are transferred into the air, they say testing the new technology in an area adjacent to schools and neighborhoods poses public health risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s reckless to do this in the middle of a vulnerable community,\u201d said Kim Prather, an atmospheric chemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.<\/p>\n