Unfit flow of waste water from the Tijuana River not only threatens the beaches of Southern California, but it has also highlighted the dangerous amounts of toxic gas in the communities of the region, found in a new study.
Cross-border waterway, which originates in the Baja California of Mexico, is emitting hydrogen sulfide-known as “sewer gas”, which is more than 4,500 times more typical urban levels in the concentrations due to its rotten egg odor, published on Thursday, Thursday.Science,
Senior writer Kimberly Prathar told reporters on a press call on Wednesday, “The community was experiencing the major respiratory issues, major health issues, could not sleep.”
An atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of San Diego, California, said, “He felt that he was being poisoned, and he felt that he was not going to hear.”
Prather was referring to the most southern inhabitants of San Diego County, such as Imperial Beach, which has long been the passage of waste water polluted from Mexico via the Ocean Plum and Tijuana River.
This fetal flow – filled with both pathogens and toxic chemicals – Tijuana stems from insufficient treatment,Shuttering beachAnd for years to sick the navy seal.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and her Mexican counterpart last monthTake stepsSigning an MoU to a solution by signing a memorandum. And on Thursday, Zeldin celebratedExpansionofSouth Bay International Waste Water Treatment Plant– An American site that treats some of Tijuana waste through a bipolar treaty.
While most researches on the contamination crisis have focused on direct contact with water, Thursday’s study authors warned that pollutants have the ability to aerosolize and spread beyond the river banks.
“Once they are in the air, they can travel up to miles, and many more people can be exposed through inhalation for those pollutants,” Prathar said.
This unseen path, the authors explained, this may mean that communities are facing too much exposure through breathing, as they are through direct contact with polluted waste water.
In other words, the inhabitants would “have to be on the beach,” Prather continued, stating that aerosolized pollutants potentially travel “throughout San Diego County”.
“When you close the beach, you can’t really tell people, ‘Stop breathing,” said Preher.
Although across the border sewage crisis has been affecting the region for almost a century, scientists have recently discovered a relationship between river contamination and aerial emissions.
A special twist pointDone in 2023When Prather and his colleagues deployed a genomic technology, revealedUp to 76 percentEmpirial Beach Hawaii Bacteria for the Tijuana River.
In Published a study This last May, the researchers identified several aerosolized wastewater compounds – including illegal drugs such as methemfetamine, as well as chemicals from tires and individual care products – in the area’s water and air.
The latest research, however, has been observed to address the long -sounding concerns of the residents of the region, who are complaining of dishonesty, respiratory issues, fatigue, headache and eye, nose and throat irritation.
Many of these individuals reported to be “rejected” – against the claims that the smell was just a nuisance “, in the morning. He was particularly vocal about these issues in 2024 in summer, a period in which he described the smell as “incredible”.
After focusing on the sample of marine spray aerosol during the first wet periods, the revered and his colleagues decided to track gases during the dry season – in the sense that there was no rain, but was not rained, but was suffering from river flow at night time.
“It has found industrial waste from all different types of sources, as well as this raw sewage that is getting empty in the Pacific Ocean every day,” Priha said about these so -called “turbulent” flows, which is labeled due to their chaotic and irregular nature.
Equipped with their previous data on airborne bacteria and chemicals, researchers attracted with local complaints of dishonesty and eventually identified a specific stretch of the river that could form a hotspot for gas emissions.
After indicating this section, the researchers deployed a mobile air quality laboratory to measure the concentration of hydrogen sulfide-as an aerial trader of “sewer gas”-water contamination.
They discovered that during the flow of record high dry weather, hydrogen sulfide was an important spike in release, 4,500 parts per billion with night peaks – thousands of times more than specific urban levels.
Their measurements also revealed that most of the hydrogen sulfides were coming from an inland place, rather than the Ocean, the revered by the Prater.
There was also an unpredictable change for scientists also: “Sudden waste water bend” suddenly declined in the flow of less than five days at 80 million gallons per day, the report of odor also decreased rapidly. The events of these coincidences, the authors mentioned, support the idea that the hotspot of Tijuana River disturbance was “the major source of meloders” and hydrogen sulfide emissions.
During the sample experience, Prathar recalled that his team members wore all the respirators and biohazard suits for their personal safety.
Scientists also accepted a clear wrong diagnosis on Wednesday, which came out of their sample in the media – an announcement, which was eventually canceled, that hydrogen cyanide gas was also contaminating the local air.
Paula Steiglar Granados, an environmental health scientist at the School of Public Health, San Diego State University, explained that they were being checked by the first to which they were carrying the responsible security sensors, “such high hydrogen was being thrown by such high hydrogen sulfide levels.”
“At that time, we realized that it was super important to share that initial data that we had,” said Steiglar Granados. “Even our dangerous response teams were not sure what was going on, so we had a public health and moral responsibility to share that information.”
Researchers later retreated that initial data, revealing that these were false positive results for hydrogen cyanide, he said.
Prather repeated these comments, while saying that hydrogen sulfide measurements were correct and the first respondent was made with 24/7 air quality calibrated devices instead of protective sensors.
Evaluation of their overall results, the authors emphasized considering how disturbed river sections can affect regional air quality. Because specific models do not include emissions from polluted waterways, incorporating these sources is important in predicting health effects, addressing risks and guiding the mitigation policy according to the study.
The excessive level of hydrogen sulfide concentrations identified near the Tijuana River also confirmed many long -dislied community reports, stating that scientists said, given the burden of uneven pollution created by the marginalized communities.
“Continuous monitoring, coordinated border -cross efforts and leadership to federal, state and local authorities are finally important for providing protection and justice to this ongoing environment and public health crisis affected communities,” researchers concluded.
Meanwhile, Prithar expressed some relief that in the short term, the residents are likely to wear a suitable mask while spending time near the river and they could prioritize the purification of their indoor air.
Fixed for a long time, he said, “Things have to be stopped from cleaning the river and dumping into the river.”
“It is quick,” said Prather. “No one should breathe this mixture.”
