SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The International Boundary and Water Commission, which is overseeing a massive trash cleanup effort in the Tijuana River Valley, says it won’t be done with the work for “three to four weeks.”
Back in January, a storm blew through the Tijuana-San Diego region dumping several inches of rain within a few hours leading to wide-scale flooding and heavy runoff in the valley.
Tons of trash and debris from south of the border flowed in with the Tijuana River as it broke through berms meant to keep the water out.
It resulted in a thick layer of trash, several feet deep, in an area of the Tijuana River Valley Basin where a private company leases federal land to grow sod.
A crew from Texas working for the IBWC has been using heavy equipment to move and pile most of the trash and debris.
Workers, dressed in hazmat suits because of dangerous toxic materials that flowed in with the trash, are also doing back-breaking work using rakes and hoes moving materials from a levee.
Part of the ongoing trash cleanup in the Tijuana River Valley basin. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report)
All this work began a few weeks ago.
Some of the workers say they have found many strange objects while cleaning including hypodermic needles, dead animals and even sex toys.
The IBWC says it will hire a contractor later this week to haul away and properly dispose of the trash that is being set aside in giant piles.
It also says another area of the basin will also require trash and sediment removal, but money for that project has yet to be allocated.
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