The Polluted River

Lesly Gallegos, volunteer and outreach manager for San Diego Coastkeeper, and Nicole Nelli, community science intern with San Diego Coastkeeper, scramble down the bank of the Tijuana River at Dairy Mart Road June 11, 2025, to collect water samples from the Tijuana River in Imperial Beach, Calif. San Diego Coastkeepers is a leading organization within the community, promoting awareness on the sewage crisis and working to inform the public of the health and environmental impacts. They send water samples to several labs across San Diego County to test for fecal coliform, heavy metals and other dangerous pollutants.

A tattered American Flag flies over a community garden plot July 9, 2025, at the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Bird and Butterfly Garden in Imperial Beach California. Many local residents in Imperial Beach cannot afford to leave and have a sense of helplessness. The air pollution is worse at night because atmospheric temperature inversions and convection currents force the ceiling lower, with little to no wind to disperse, dilute and move the air pollution away. On a windy day, people may not notice the harsh smell coming off of the Tijuana River. Without the wind, people are being woken up own the middle of the night and developing respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

David Ramirez watches as his friend James Cibrian reels in a black sea bass July 7, 2025, on the Imperial beach Pier in Imperial Beach Calif. The black Sea bass is a protected species and was released by the pair. The Imperial Beach Pier sits just a mile north of the Tijuana River Mouth State Marine Conservation Area which is meant to protect and help sustain native marine animal populations. The pollution spilling directly into this conservation area from the Tijuana River is causing oxygen depletion in the environment and introducing bacteria and toxins which harm marine life directly into the protected marine ecosystem.

The sun rises over the Laguna Mountains and Morena Lake July 7, 2025, in Campo, Calif. The Tijuana River head waters begin in the Laguna Mountains and flow via Cottonwood Creek and Morena Creek through Morena and Barrett Lakes. These are drinkable water sources and are commonly used as high-traffic recreation sites. Less than 100 miles later it is some of the most polluted water in the United States.

Jassayah Dart, 11, and his twin brother Massayah Dart, 11, stand on the Imperial Beach Pier at sunset July 7, 2025, in Imperial Beach, Calif. Being local residents, they are unable to enjoy the beach to its fullest extent because of its continued closure due to high levels of sewage contamination in the water. This is primarily due to untreated sewage and industrial runoff flowing from the Tijuana River into the Pacific Ocean.

Laura Fuller, community science director of San Diego Coastkeeper, speaks with a U.S. Border Patrol Agent June 11, 2025, at the Goat Canyon collector system in Imperial Beach, Calif. This system is where the Tijuana River flows from Mexico back into the United States, and it is supposed to be pumped through the Southbay Waste Water Treatment Plant which is operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission. When the holding pool reaches capacity, untreated water flows through the spillway directly into the Tijuana River Estuary and then the Pacific Ocean. When there hasn’t been been rain, all water flowing across the border is 100 percent raw sewage and industrial runoff.

Imperial beach resident Jess Encina puts a Pacific chub mackerel in a bucket after catching it July 7, 2025, on the Imperial Beach Pier in Imperial Beach, Calif. Many locals eat the fish they catch from the pier. Since the sewage crisis started, it has become increasingly unsafe to eat fish caught in the ocean water contaminated with raw sewage and industrial waste. They still take the risk and eat the fish, sometimes becoming severely ill with gastrointestinal infections.

Ben Rico, University of California San Diego PhD candidate sits in his modified truck late at night July 9, 2025, at the Saturn Boulevard river crossing, a known hotspot where the Tijuana River pollution is aerosoled, and runs an air quality sampling lab in Imperial Beach, Calif. Rico is getting ready to publish a study regarding hydrogen sulfide pollution and dangerous air quality around the Tijuana River. Patricia Morris, PhD student in analytical and atmospheric chemistry at UCSD, looks over his shoulder and assists with the lab. The truck is modified to collect air samples through tubes sticking out of the backseat window and is put to use primarily at night when air pollution reaches its most critical levels. This is due to increased sewage water output at night and poor atmospheric conditions that force air to stagnate.

Imperial Beach resident Roma Ramirez waters her friend’s community garden plot at the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Bird and Butterfly Garden July 9, 2025, in Imperial Beach Calif. Local residents utilize the community garden to grow fresh vegetables and herbs which they use to eat. The community garden is located less than 100 yards away from the Tijuana River and the city has recommended that residents do not consume any of the water used to grow the plants. This has left many residents concerned for their safety and the health of their gardens.

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Kimberly Dickson and her husband, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Matthew Dickson, sit inside South Bay Urgent Care July 8, 2025, before it opens for the day in Imperial Beach, Calif. Dickson and her husband own and operate South Bay Urgent Care, which sees many patients from Imperial Beach come in with severe gastrointestinal distress. The Dickson's have found that many patients visit the clinic after coming into contact with sewage contaminated water from the Tijuana River that has been aerosolized or directly from contaminated ocean water. They have reported their findings to the department of health and have been told that there is no definitive cause for the higher than expected cases of gastrointestinal illness and respiratory illnesses.

A wave crashes as a set rolls in July 7, 2025, off of the Imperial Beach Pier in Imperial Beach, Calif. For coastal communities in Southern California, beach access is taken for granted. Water culture is so ingrained in the way of life that people don’t think twice about being able to enjoy the beach. With an estimated total of well over 100 million annual visitors, Southern California beaches see a lot of traffic from both locals and tourists. A single day of beach closure has an impact on the community, but over 1,000 days of beach closures since 2021, due to sewage and pollution contamination is devastating to a local community.

Campers from YMCA run Camp Surf, enjoy the clean water at Breakers Beach in Coronado, Calif. July 9, 2025. The camp, which has waterfront real estate in Imperial Beach, must bus their campers north to safe ocean locations that haven’t been contaminated with sewage and pollution from the Tijuana River. Although often pollution reaches up to Coronado, today the levels were safe enough to recreate. Camp Surf has a partnership with the United States Navy that allows them to use the private beach on Naval Airstation Coronado property. The Navy has had their own issues with Navy Seals being struck down with illness caused by contact with contaminated ocean water during training. The issues have largely been ignored by the health department even though the Department of Defense has reported these cases.

Lesly Gallegos, volunteer and outreach manager for San Diego Coastkeeper, and Nicole Nelli, community science intern with San Diego Coastkeeper, collect water samples from the Tijuana River at Dairy Mart Road June 11, 2025, in Imperial Beach, Calif. San Diego Coastkeepers collects water samples from four different locations on the Tijuana River once a month to maintain their own monitoring as well as to support other researchers monitor water quality conditions.

Jenna Herbst, PhD student at Scripps, Patricia Morris, PhD student at UCSD and Tobie Bloom, an incoming PhD student at Scripps, get set up to run a water quality sampling lab at the Saturn Boulevard river crossing, early morning July 10, 2025, in Imperial Beach, Calif. The team is testing for heavy metal contamination and E. Coli bacteria in the Tijuana River. The team wears full protective gear due to the dangerous pollution levels in the Tijuana River and their extended exposure to aerosoled pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide, which cause nausea, vomiting, headaches and eventual death due to chemical asphyxiation.

Alivia Haro, 8, looks out the window of a school bus July 9, 2025, in Imperial Beach, Calif. while riding with her surf camp from Imperial Beach, up the coast to Coronado Beach. Camp Surf, an overnight surf camp operated by the YMCA, is located on the water of Imperial beach. It hasn’t been able to utilize its natural resource because contaminated water has made it unsafe to surf at Imperial Beach, forcing the camp to bus participants up the coast to cleaner beaches. This ride can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how far up the coast the rivers’ contamination reaches; significantly cutting into the time the campers can spend in the water surfing.

Imperial Beach resident Gino Ramirez sits outside of his garden plot after water for the day at the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Bird and Butterfly Garden July 9, 2025, in Imperial Beach California. He and his wife have been growing vegetables for years at the garden and have described it as a peaceful place. They said that when the smell gets too bad to handle, they must abandon their plants and wait for the stench to dissipate before returning to gardening.

On July 9, 2025, in Imperial Beach, Calif. local resident Susan Howard scrolls through old reports she filed on her phone through an APCD, (San Diego Air Pollution Control District) application, indicating incidents of air pollution in her neighborhood. She describes symptoms such as burning eyes, sneezing and burning throat amongst others. Howard said the city helped provide air filtration systems for their homes, but that the system is too small and gets overwhelmed during spikes in poor air quality. Howard mentioned that although she continues to file complaints, others in her neighborhood have stopped because they don’t get responses and no action is being taken to combat the issue.

Water from the Tijuana River flows out of a culvert that runs underneath Saturn Boulevard June, 11, 2025, in Imperial Beach Calif. This location is the main hot spot in which water borne pollution from the Tijuana River becomes aeresoled. White foam accumulates onto of the black water as the river continues its flow to the ocean. This foam is result of industrial pollution from Tijuana’s Maquiladoras. The water underneath is comprised of 100% sewage, industrial and urban runoff due to the lack of rain and natural water flow from the headwaters in the Laguna Mountains.

On the sands of Imperial Beach, Carmen Valenzuela and Johny Valenzuela walk past a beach closure sign July 7, 2025, in Imperial beach, Calif. The beach closure signs have become almost as permanent as the pier itself. Starting in 2021, and going through 2024, the beach was closed for over 1,000 consecutive days due to industrial waste, raw sewage and trash flowing into the ocean from the Tijuana River.