Air Pollution From Tijuana River Travels for ‘Many Miles,’ New Study Finds

Samples collected from the air and ocean found traces of cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as chemicals from tires and sunscreen.
Air Pollution From Tijuana River Travels for ‘Many Miles,’ New Study Finds
A surfer in San Diego on April 22, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
Kimberly Hayek
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A new study has found that pollutants in the Tijuana River—which carries untreated sewage from Tijuana into the Pacific Ocean, where it ends up on San Diego beaches—are also being released in the air as fine particles that can travel for miles.

Samples from air and water along the coast from Tijuana, Mexico, to La Jolla, California, revealed that ocean aerosols contained illicit drugs (including enough to make a fish addicted and experience withdrawal), drug byproducts produced from urine, and chemicals from tires and personal care products, researchers from the University of California–San Diego concluded in a study published on May 28 in the journal Science Advances.
Kimberly Hayek
Kimberly Hayek
Author
Kimberly Hayek is a reporter for The Epoch Times. She covers California news and has worked as an editor and on scene at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2018 migrant caravan crisis.