Health officials have announced that several beaches in San Diego County are closed due to high bacteria levels.
A total of four beaches along the US-Mexico border were closed following the discovery on Saturday.
Among them was Imperial Beach, which was recently named the dirtiest beach in the country. All are seen as victims of Tijuana’s broken infrastructure, as the city continues to pump sewage to the California side of the border.
The polluted water flows north, not only to Imperial Beach, but also to Silver Strand State Beach, Coronado Beach and along the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, where the Tijuana River empties into the Pacific Ocean just south of Imperial.
All sections were closed on Saturday due to the presence of potentially harmful bacteria. Several warnings were issued in the area, warning swimmers to swim at their own risk.
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Several beaches in San Diego County have been closed due to high bacteria levels, health officials have revealed. Here’s a polluted Imperial Beach
A total of four beaches were closed following the discovery on Saturday along the US-Mexico border of sewage seeping through from Tijuana.
“CLOSURE: Bacteria levels exceed health standards,” read an update from the San Diego Coastkeeper Sunday evening.
‘Avoid contact with water in the advisory area.’
The alert applied to all four of the aforementioned beaches, all of which are within a few miles of each other along the Southern California coast.
There, several miles across the international border, pounds of human waste float as the city of Tijuana grows faster than its infrastructure.
The resulting problem can be seen just south of Imperial Beach, near the wildlife refuge, before moving north into Imperial, the Silver Strand State, and Coronado.
“In Tijuana, it seems like they have to fix the same broken pipe over and over again,” environmental activist and former Imperial Beach mayor Serge Dedina said of the proposed case late last year.
“There’s always a broken pipe, there’s always a problem,” Dedina said.
‘And the problem now is that it lasts 365 days a year, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.’
So the pollution starts just south of Imperial Beach, near the wildlife refuge, and then moves north to Imperial, the Silver Strand State and Coronado.
Experts say it is caused by Tijuana’s broken infrastructure as the city continues to pump sewage to the California side of the border.
The politician accused authorities in both Tijuana and Baja California of failing to properly maintain the city’s sewage system, which has essentially collapsed, sending raw sewage into the U.S. via the river and surrounding ocean.
“And no one will say anything about it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Imperial Beach’s current mayor, Paloma Aguirre, claimed that the once-popular beach is hit by about 40 million gallons of sewage every day. NBC San Diego at the beginning of the year: ‘There are all kinds of things in the water, from heavy metals to chemicals and chlorinated pesticides.
“There are traces of feces in the water,” she added.
“It’s the worst thing you can imagine,” Dedina told the newspaper.
‘Raw human feces.’
“Our local beach here behind me has been closed every day this year,” Aguirre added at the time
“It’s devastating. We have a whole generation of kids who are now in college and don’t know what it’s like to have clean water in their hometown.”
“There are traces of feces in the water,” one local official said recently of the situation. “It’s the worst thing you can imagine,” another said sharply.
“Raw human waste,” one official said — as locals continue to accuse officials in both Tijuana and Baja California of failing to properly maintain the city’s sewer system. The toxic flood seen in Imperial Beach — seen here — and other nearby shorelines is the result
At the time of writing, all beaches remain closed until samples have been taken to show that these areas are safe for contact.
San Diego County Environmental Health officials have urged the public to avoid contact with the water for the time being, even though the shorelines along Mission Bay North Cove and La Jolla Children’s Pool are not closed. However, bacteria levels are still above standards.
“Bacteria levels exceed health standards. Avoid contact with water in the advisory area,” Sunday’s statements for nearby beaches said.
At the time of writing, none of the warnings have been lifted. An update is expected sometime this week.