The chemical scent subsides and is replaced by an even worse one. This time, its a nauseating smell of sewage…raw filthy sewage. With every wave that washes up the shore, the smells waft by. There is no factory near. There is no treatment plant. It’s the ocean.

Your thoughts of getting pitted by yourself, of deep tunnel vision with the Playas de Tijuana bull-fighting arena in your peripheral, of scoring surf, are quickly scourged. You are turned away by your own inclination that entering the water here would not be a good idea. You are so repulsed by the smell that surfing here is not a consideration on this beautiful morning. No way. Not here. Not today. Not tomorrow. This is an ordinary winter day in Imperial Beach.

The Tijuana River is unique in that it is a bi-national watershed. It begins in southeastern Tijuana, journeys west through the city where it is confined by a cement channel. It then joins the channeled Alamar River and makes a run northwest. It crosses the international boundary line on the northwestern edge of the Tijuana and empties into the Tijuana River Valley. From there it meanders through the wetland complex toward the Pacific Ocean where it finally empties. In the absence of rain, the Tijuana River is a mere trickle. Without the cement channel or the run-off that the city and neighboring Tecate contribute to its flow, the river would only periodically exist. But partly because natural infiltration is restricted and Tijuana’s lagging sewage infrastructure does not contain the city’s effluent, the river’s existence is perennial. This means a consistent flow of tainted water throughout the year. During episodes of rain, the tributary canyons (in which reside the majority of Tijuana’s colonias) and streets flush into the river channel and culverts beneath the border fence. Tires used for erosion control in Tijuana, mounds of plastic trash, industrial run-off from the region’s maquiladoras and Tecate’s massive brewery and sewage-borne bacteria accompany the run-off. What this means for Imperial Beach, just north of where the river and wetlands empty into the Pacific, is significantly polluted water.

According to WiLDCOAST’s Benjamin McCue, “every year, closures in Imperial Beach and Coronado due to Tijuana River pollution make up 80-95% of San Diego County's total beach closures.” In the River valley, he continues, “the health threat is so extreme that the border patrol won a class-action lawsuit to receive hazardous pay for their work next to the Tijuana River.” McCue says that in 2007, “researchers at San Diego State University found hepatitis A and strains of poliovirus in 80% of the water samples off the Imperial Beach pier within three days of rain.”

WiLDCOAST is working with elected officials on both sides of the border to advocate for policies that will reduce pollution in the Tijuana River. Since 2005, McCue has been leading an effort to improve sewage treatment along the border. In 2008, the U.S announced that it will upgrade the International Wastewater Treatment Plant and in turn Mexico, has inaugurated the first of three treatment facilities in Tijuana.

According to Ben, these efforts are a “drop in the bucket” and there is still much work to be done. To see what you can do to help reduce pollution in the river and make Imperial Beach’s barrels the good kind of “filthy,” visit the WiLDCOAST website at www.wildcoast.net or call the team at (619) 423-8665.

Photos courtesy of Ben McCue.