IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — The number of people getting sick from sewage is the highest it's ever been in the South Bay, according to doctors at an urgent care in Imperial Beach.
Those same doctors feel that the contamination has elevated to the point where people are getting sick without even going into the ocean.
The flow of sewage from the Tijuana River into the ocean at the border has been known to make swimmers and surfers sick.
That’s why when bacteria levels are high, people are warned not to go in the water. But now, the doctors and co-owners of South Bay Urgent Care have noticed something they’ve never seen before.
“We're getting sick, our patients are getting sick, our community is getting sick down here,” said Dr. Kimberly Dickson.
In the latest cases, Doctors Kimberly and Matthew Dickson are not certain where the sickness-causing bacteria is coming from, “There's no avoiding it. We don’t know where it's coming from. You don’t have to go in the water to get sick right now, so we don't know where it's coming from. Is it the air? Is it the drinking water?”
It's become enough of a concern that researchers at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography are looking at the data from the urgent care that serves residents of Imperial Beach, San Ysidro, Chula Vista, and Coronado.
The researchers noticed a trend that shocked the doctors.
On average, they say, they see about five cases a week of gastrointestinal illness. But after heavy rain like Hurricane Hilary in August, they saw a jump of 560% to 35 cases a week.
“We're trying to raise the red flag for somebody to pay attention that this is dangerous for our population… this is preventable we have an open sewer that’s coming through the United States right now,” said Dr. Matthew Dickson.
Added Dr. Kimberly Dickson, “We have an elementary school, middle school, and a high school all by the estuary and when you drive by you can smell it. My concern is we have those kids breathing it in 8 hours a day.”
The Dickson's moved to Imperial Beach about a decade ago and are raising their children in the city. They’re not immune to the bacteria, especially when the bacteria levels are really high, “I can tell usually a day ahead of time because (my husband, Matthew ) starts wheezing. If he's using his inhaler more, the numbers are up.”
The doctors explain that bacteria can lead to asthma, sinus infections, headaches, rashes, and severe stomach problems.
"We know there’s a lot of chemicals in there in addition to the sewage," said Dickson. "What are the long-term effects of people inhaling? We know it's aerosolized.”
And now they’re noticing more people wanting to move out.
“We have a lot of friends moving out of town because it's unknown and they're scared,” says Dr. Kimberly Dickson.
They feel the dangers of living near sewage flows are being ignored.
And in between treating patients, they're trying to raise their voices until there's a fix. “I’m disappointed. We came here to live out our dream. We love our community and unfortunately, [the government] has failed. There's no reason this should be going on. We're the only place in the country with an open sewage system in our backyard. This is like a third-world country.”
The doctors say Scripps researchers will look at asthma and breathing-related illness next and see if they notice a spike in patients after flooding events.