SAN DIEGO — The ongoing sewage crisis in San Diego's South Bay has taken a turn for the worse, with county officials issuing an air quality advisory due to elevated levels of toxic sewer gases.
This development comes just weeks after the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District unveiled a new odor alert system to monitor the situation.
Residents of the affected areas have long suffered from the persistent sewage problem. Jessie, a long-time resident, shared his frustration with the situation.
"Don't go outside. Stay at home. Go to Netflix," he advised, noting that he has to deal with the odor several days a week. "It's pretty bad between 6 and 7 pm. Who wants to smell that when you go out of your house?" Jessie laments.
The county's newly installed monitoring system can be found at Berry Elementary in Nestor and The San Ysidro Fire Station. SDAPCD is looking to install a monitor at Imperial Beach City Hall in the coming weeks. The monitor is designed to detect concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that smells like rotten eggs.
The H2S monitoring dashboard updates air quality daily and uses four color-coded levels to indicate severity. An orange level alert, which has already been issued for the Nestor area this week, indicates at least 30 parts per billion of the dangerous gas in the air.
At this level, many people will smell an odor and may experience symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, nausea, and irritation of the eyes and nose.
Miguel Gonzalez, who works at La Centra Birria, expressed his concern about the impact on local businesses and residents.
"It's honestly sad. I think that it's a very challenging thing for a lot of us to cope with and deal with," he said. "I feel like they deserve better. The people around here deserve better."
The odors are produced by ongoing, untreated transborder wastewater sewage flows in the Tijuana River Valley. County health officials are urging residents to take precautions on days when air quality reaches unsafe levels.
They recommend staying inside, closing windows and doors, and using air purifiers or air conditioning when air quality alerts are issued.
Gonzalez said it’s time to stop the stink and give families living in the South Bay a better quality of life.
"Make sure that our kids can breathe the air quality properly, that our older people can breathe the air quality properly," a county health official stated.
As the community grapples with this crisis, there are calls for more decisive action. "I personally hope that it's something that we address and something that we deal with with intention," Gonzalez added.
The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District continues to monitor the situation closely, with the new alert system serving as a crucial tool in keeping residents informed about potential health risks associated with the ongoing sewage crisis.