Toxic Sewage Flowing From Mexico to California Creating a ‘Public Health Crisis’

A report found that the region around the San Diego border area with Mexico faces a public health crisis.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent patrols on an all-terrain vehicle where the border wall ends in the Pacific Ocean along the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana, during a tour with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at International Friendship Park in San Diego County, Calif. on May 10, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

A report found that the region around the San Diego border area with Mexico faces a public health crisis due to contaminated sewage flowing from Mexico into California.

In a report commissioned by Rep. Scott Peters (R-Calif.), San Diego State University researchers described the situation as a “public health crisis,” finding that raw sewage and other materials are flowing north into Southern California from Mexico via the Tijuana River. They noted that places like Imperial Beach and San Ysidro, California, as well as other areas, could face exposure to “untreated sewage.”