SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — With a storm approaching, Southern California is generating higher-than-normal surf, much to the delight of surfers going into the water despite signs warning them about dangerous bacteria levels.
“It’s so hard to watch people surf right now because I know the water is contaminated,” said Bethany Case, spokesperson for the Surfrider Foundation in San Diego.
Case says the Imperial Beach, California coastline is contaminated because of raw sewage flowing north from Mexico.
Much of it originates at the Punta Bandera sewage treatment five miles south of the border, spilling untreated effluent into the ocean for years.
According to Margarita Díaz, director of the Education and Environmental Border Project, it is expected to be renovated early next year.
Díaz stated while the plant undergoes repairs, it will have to reduce processing capacity by 30 percent.
While the work is considered good news for environmental groups such as Surfrider, there is also a concern because the facility is expected to release even more untreated sewage into the ocean during the plant’s rehab.
For decades, the sewage and its bacteria have been pushed north of the border by the currents contaminating beaches in cities such as Imperial Beach and Coronado, California.
“It’s just how nature works; there’s no way to put a barrier out in the ocean far enough out; it will always find its way up north,” said Case. “There’s going to be even more contamination coming into the water. We know part of the reduction is necessary to make repairs; it’s progress, but it sets us back because we know they either have to shut down or reduce capacity.”
Diaz also expressed concerns with the project, stating the repairs may need more.
Surfers in Imperial Beach, California. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report)
“The Mexican government should just design and build a new treatment plant with more capacity than what is there as we look into the future, taking into account the region’s growth,” said Diaz.
As for Case, an Imperial Beach resident, she is happy something is finally getting done at Punta Bandera, considering how the sewage impacts the lives of people who can’t get in the water or near the surf.
“Even walking on the sand, when it’s wet, we’re not okay because we know there are bacteria; if you happen to have a cut on our feet or ankles, and it’s wet, we know staph infections are very likely so we just don’t come down and enjoy the beach.”
The repairs at Punta Bandera are expected to begin early next year, with the work taking place for most of 2024.
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