Melina Jimenez Esparza can’t help but wonder if the binational sewage crisis is behind the breathing problems experienced by her father in Tijuana and her peers in Imperial Beach, where she attends high school.
She’s reminded of the problem every time she crosses the border from Mexico into the U.S., a commute along the polluted Tijuana River watershed. The 16-year-old set out to find answers after Mar Vista High School teacher Katrine Czajkowski encouraged her to join a group of students and scientists researching the health effects of the toxic pollution.
“I think that was one of my main reasons (for joining),” said Jimenez Esparza. “I wanted to see how maybe those particles (in the air) are affecting my dad health-wise.”
She is one of several teenagers whose work is helping researchers better understand how the public health crisis affects communities. They also are hoping to expand awareness.
The sewage problem boils down to years of disrepair and underinvestment in treatment plants on both sides of the border amid a rapidly growing population in Tijuana, leading to billions of gallons of partially treated wastewater and toxic chemicals tainting South San Diego shorelines and the Tijuana River Valley.
Major repairs are underway, but teenagers from across San Diego County said the slow response has been detrimental to communities and low-income youth are particularly at risk. Many have been spending time, often outside of school hours, learning about the long-term effects of a crisis they know they will have to deal with in the future.
“We’re gonna take over whatever the past generation leaves us,” said 16-year-old Del Mar resident David Lai, who is working on a documentary about the issue. “So, we want to leave our generation (with) good nature, good economics — just a good standard of living.”
This is what several teens are doing.
The Youth Climate Advisors
Jimenez Esparza is one of many teens who comprise the Youth Climate Advisors, a group of mostly Mar Vista High School students who have spent the past six months working with researchers at UC San Diego’s Airborne Institute and Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health.
Many took an interest in researching what is in the air they breathe following a preliminary study led by one of their mentors at UCSD who found sewage-linked bacteria in sea spray aerosols at Imperial Beach.
Since January, the teens have collected nearly 100 unique air readings and taken more than 50 photographs in school, public spaces and nature documenting where and how pollution has impacted their community.
Joshua Nungaray, for example, compared particulate matter counts during indoor volleyball practice and outdoor track and field practice at Mar Vista – it’s less than 1 mile from the beach. He found higher counts of airborne particles outdoors during the summer because “the particles from the beach reach the school easily, but cannot completely go into facilities.” Particulate matter is a mix of solids and small liquid droplets in the air. Breathing unhealthy levels of particulates can increase the risk of short-term and long-term health complications, such as eye irritation, coughing, asthma or heart disease.
“The particles in the air definitely affect me, I am long distance so I have to run outside and sometimes the smell is so bad I’ll just decide for a different route further from the beach,” one student-athlete told him.
Rebecca Fielding-Miller, a UCSD public health social scientist working with the youth advisors, said the teens’ participation has been one of the most important factors of the overall research.
“It was really important to us to make sure that the kids were not just learning about data collection, learning about air quality issues, but also that we were really listening to what is important to them,” she said. “Unless we are actually talking to and, more importantly, listening to people who are experiencing the biggest effects, then I don’t think our science is doing everything that it could.”
Scientists said they’re in the process of weaving into their broader research some of the issues students have raised, such as exploring how air quality differs by zip code, mental health impacts and if specific classroom activities, such as working in a chemistry lab with limited ventilation, pose a serious health risk for students and staff.
Navya Arora, a youth advisor from San Marcos, has found the sewage crisis and its effect on air quality to be beyond the capacity of residents and local agencies to manage.
“I feel like if you get more people from other communities to care about it (air quality), then we can solve it together,” she said.
Some teens across the county feel the same way.
Non-Toxic San Diego
Lai, Kevin Chapman, 16, and Vivian Zhang, 15, from North County are members of Non-Toxic San Diego, a club with students from various high schools advocating for solutions to environmental problems throughout the region. They thought the cross-border sewage crisis needed more attention.
So they began producing a documentary on the issue, meeting with local government officials and informing other young people on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
The teens met on a recent Monday evening with Imperial Beach shorefront homeowners Tom Csanadi and Marvel Harrison. The couple launched a social media campaign dubbed “IBEmpowered” that gives residents a platform to share how sewage pollution has affected them.
The sewage stench was especially unbearable early that morning, Csanadi and Harrison told the youth from their patio as they looked toward the crashing waves, obstructed by signs alerting visitors to toxic waste in the water.
Chapman said more people need to see what Imperial Beach and surrounding areas are experiencing, adding that when it comes to underserved neighborhoods, government response feels slow-moving.
“If this happened in wealthier communities like Rancho Santa Fe or La Jolla, it definitely would have been fixed right now,” he said.
Pollution has spread as far north to Coronado, occasionally shuttering its shorelines, and levels of hydrogen sulfide above state thresholds have been recorded as far east as San Ysidro.
As the group discussed their efforts with Csanadi and Harrison, Harrison invoked a saying from Southern Africa, “ubuntu” — roughly translating to “what happens to you happens to me.”
“I care a lot about it because a lot of my friends from school live around this area,” Lai said. “It’s San Diego. Even though we live in Del Mar, they’re still part of the San Diego County region. So they’re still family in a way.”
Elsewhere in South County, teens and young adults with the Clean Coast Collaborative hosted a beach cleanup in Imperial Beach on July 20 and an art exhibit showcasing their experiences living with sewage pollution. And Coronado High School students led a rally earlier this year advocating for more federal funds to fix broken treatment infrastructure.
School districts call for help
School districts serving children in neighborhoods within proximity to the pollution are also sounding the alarm.
“We believe that the pollution is impacting our attendance and enrollment is declining at a higher rate than some of our surrounding school districts,” said South Bay Superintendent Jose Espinoza. “But unfortunately for school districts, we don’t have the resources to track that data, or to even collect that type of data to support the beliefs that we have.”
Sweetwater Union High, South Bay Union and Chula Vista Elementary districts adopted proclamations earlier this year declaring the crisis an emergency and are urging the state and federal governments to do the same. Thousands of students have also written letters persuading Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for expedited solutions.