SoCal city’s beaches closed due to sewage-laden runoff from Mexico

May 28, 2019

San Diego — The entire shoreline of a Southern California city is closed to swimmers after sewage-contaminated runoff flowed into California from Mexico’s Tijuana River.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the San Diego County Department of Environment Health issued the order Sunday, expanding the closure that has been in place for months for part of the coast of the city of Imperial Beach.

Officials say more than 110 million gallons of toxic storm water has flowed north from Mexico since April.

The closure will be in place until testing shows the water is safe.

California and the cities of Imperial Beach and Chula Vista sued the Trump administration last year over the recurring toxic flows from Mexico.

The lawsuit seeks to force the federal government to upgrade the collection system that diverts flows to a wastewater treatment plant.

Area residents held a rally Sunday morning holding up signs that read, “Stop the poop,” calling on officials to address the ongoing water pollution, the newspaper says.

The Union-Tribune explains that San Diego “is at the end of large watershed that starts in the mountains in and around Tijuana. When it rains, water rushes across the city picking up trash and other pollution as it flows northwest eventually into the Pacific Ocean.”