The shorelines of Imperial Beach have been kept closed after almost 100 million gallons of sewage runoff poured over the U.S.-Mexico border.
Local officials recently visited Washington D.C. to urge funding for a blueprint to capture the sewage runoff. The officials in attendance were Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, and San Diego Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Jerry Sanders.
Sanders commented before the trip, saying, “The Chamber’s delegation trip to Washington is an opportunity to bring leaders from San Diego and Baja to Washington to advocate directly with legislators and policymakers for the issues critical to our region.”
The shore from the Mexican border to the north end of Imperial Beach has been closed since September 7. Water quality tests have been improved, however, and results are now being received within 24 hours. This is a vast improvement from the initial time of several days that it used to take.
The reason this runoff poured over the border was due to rainwater overwhelming the pumps in the Tijuana River. This caused 9.4 million gallons of polluted water to pass over the border on September 4.
The first report sent to officials with the International Boundary and Water Commission was not sent until the next Monday, five days later.
The blueprint was first discussed in June when Mayor Faulconer met with President Trump to lobby for its funding. However, this meeting resulted in the president claiming that during their meeting, Faulconer thanked him for his efforts in building the wall.
The resolution to this issue is not clear yet, but hopefully the trip to Washington will provide the Chamber with better funding to settle the dilemma.
