2024: Reaching New Heights in the Struggle for Clean Border Water

Photo: Nanzi Muro

The Tijuana River Watershed is a strikingly beautiful and deeply meaningful place for communities on both sides of the Mexico/U.S. border.  It provides critical habitat to countless species and is the largest remaining coastal wetland in Southern California.  Yet, each year, billions of gallons of untreated sewage, industrial chemicals, and trash flow across the border through the river and enter the Pacific Ocean, causing beach closures throughout South San Diego County and widespread illnesses throughout the region.  In 2024, that number reached more than 36 billion gallons in polluted transboundary flows.   

2024 WAS A HUGE YEAR FOR CLEAN BORDER WATER NOW!
Based in San Diego, the Clean Border Water Now program leads Surfrider Foundation’s work to address the transboundary pollution that is causing a grave public health and environmental justice crises in the Southern California/Northern Baja border region.  While the environmental catastrophe and the resulting public health crisis continued to get worse in 2024, Surfrider was able to engage more people and successfully advocate for more solutions, than ever before.  

Together with our community partners, we secured several campaign victories at the federal and state levels to provide a substantial amount of the funding needed to pay for water infrastructure improvement projects that reduce the flow of transboundary pollution through the Tijuana Watershed and into the Pacific Ocean.  A number of resolutions calling for solutions to this crisis were also passed last year by local and state governments, San Diego Port Authority, San Diego school districts, and the Southern Indian Health Council.  This success was possible through the efforts of a growing coalition of community organizations and local officials that are advocating for change as well as a growing groundswell of community voices that are showing up and demanding action.  These voices were amplified last year when the Tijuana River landed on America’s Most Endangered Rivers list for 2024 and as they came together at our collaborative Unite to Heal Our Coast event.  Together, the Surfrider Foundation and our community partners are well positioned to continue to make progress towards our long-term goal of stopping the flow of polluted water through the San Diego/Tijuana border region and restoring clean water and safe, healthy communities and beaches for all to enjoy.   

Read on to learn more about 2024 highs and lows and what keeps us hopeful going into 2025.

• $491 million was successfully advocated for by Surfrider and our community partners to fund border water infrastructure improvement projects.
• 7,450 people signed our petition calling on the President and Congress to act immediately to address the transboundary pollution crisis, which Surfrider hand-delivered to White House staff in December.
• 1,243 people participated in CBWN community events throughout the year. 
• 100s of students from South San Diego County created powerful letters, artwork and postcards calling on our elected officials to act and we were able to hand-deliver them to White House staff.
• 50+ (and growing!) community-based-organizations, elected officials, and public agencies throughout San Diego County took part in the Transboundary Pollution Coalition.  
• 5 campaign victories were won at the federal and state levels to help fund water infrastructure improvement projects that will reduce the flow of transboundary pollution. 
• 3 revealing studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), University of California at San Diego (UCSD), and San Diego State University (SDSU) provide new insight into the disproportionate health impacts of the pollution on frontline communities in and around the Tijuana River Valley.  These studies demonstrate how water contamination is impairing air quality by releasing toxic gasses into the air above fast moving streams or flow (aerosolization), including dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide in residential neighborhoods with several schools in the vicinity.  This means that no one is safe by simply avoiding contact with toxic water.  People standing in their own front yards, going to school, and working in proximity to the Tijuana River could be at risk of developing adverse health conditions and have reported an increase in illnesses.  Surfrider supported these studies by sharing opportunities to participate and sharing preliminary results. 
• 2 major wastewater treatment plants broke ground on repairs and expansion.  The San Antonio de los Buenos treatment plant 6 miles south of the border began much needed repairs and expansion expected to be completed this year.  Once complete, the plant will treat up to 18 million gallons per day (MGD) in wastewater, preventing it from discharging into the ocean untreated and flowing up the coast to San Diego during northward currents.  Additionally, the International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro, north of the border, broke ground in fall 2024 to repair and double the capacity from 25 MGD to 50 MGD with up to 75 MDG capacity during storm events.  Surfrider and our partners have been advocating for these desperately needed infrastructure improvements for several years and we are encouraged to see them finally progressing. 

• Funding!  We achieved 4 campaign victories last year for a total of $491 million to help pay for needed improvements to border water infrastructure.  This includes: 

• 1. Successfully advocating for Congressional Funding Transfer Authority Language in the FY2024 budget to allow any federal or state agency to contribute funds for border water infrastructure projects, 
  2. Securing $156M in the FY 2024 budget for infrastructure repairs to the International Wastewater treatment Plant in San Ysidro, operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, and $35M for the Border Water Infrastructure Grant Program,
  3. Inclusion of $250M in the FY2025 continuing resolution that Congress passed in late December to narrowly avoid a government shutdown. This supplemental funding will go towards the long-awaited International Treatment Plant expansion that is part of the EPA’s Comprehensive Infrastructure Plan, 
  4. Passage of California Voter Proposition 4 that dedicated $50M toward border water infrastructure projects.
• Public health study:  Another campaign victory was won when the CDC agreed to conduct a public health study in response to appeals made by the community, local officials, and the CA legislature.  The resulting study revealed that most people living in close proximity to the river or estuary have health concerns, symptoms, and quality-of-life issues they associate with the Tijuana River pollution crisis.   

• Designating the Tijuana River as one of the Top Ten Most Endangered Rivers in the United States in 2024 was a joint effort between Surfrider and local partner organization, Un Mar de Colores.  The designation through American Rivers helped to build awareness, expose new audiences to the issue, and drive action across the country.  Being included on this list has also served as a rallying cry and a persuasive point to raise with decision-makers in advocating for stronger and swifter solutions. 
• Participating in the Tijuana River Task Force, initiated in spring 2024 by Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, has helped to shine a light on the public health impacts of the crisis.  CBWN participates alongside doctors, researchers, academics, mental health professionals, and other nonprofit representatives.  We aim to understand and share important health information with the public and advocate for solutions to address immediate and long-term health needs. 
• Leading the Transboundary Pollution Coalition for Advocacy and Healing in the Tijuana Watershed, which has grown significantly in 2024, now convenes over 50 community-based-organizations, government agencies, and leaders from across San Diego County and drives collective awareness and action on the transboundary pollution crisis. The Coalition is co-facilitated by Surfrider, YMCA and Outdoor Outreach.  Highlights of the coalition's work this past year include hosting a public health forum with featured speaker Dr. Mona Hanna, who was instrumental in creating awareness about and addressing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and sending a delegation to D.C. to meet with White House staff and represent community voices and advocacy requests.
• Growing Local Participation through several community events across the year engaged over 1,243 people.  Unite to Heal Our Coast, our largest community event yet, brought people from across the region together to heal our coast, our river, and our communities from the transboundary pollution that has plagued residents and ecosystems in the South Bay and beyond for decades.  CBWN also co-hosted a series of three “Community Conversations” with partner organization, Un Mar de Colores, where we created accessible spaces for community members to learn about the public health crisis and ask questions, especially in non-coastal frontline communities.  

 Photos: Nanzi Muro, Unite to Heal Our Coast event, Oct. 2024

2025 is primed to be another momentous year in the struggle for clean water in the San Diego/Tijuana international region.  More and more local, state, and federal leaders are prioritizing this issue and working together to advance both an immediate response and long-term solutions to this worsening public health crisis and environmental catastrophe.  This coming year, our Clean Border Water Now program and coalition work will focus on building more leadership opportunities for youth and growing our cross-border partnerships. 

We will continue to advocate together for a federal emergency declaration and for support at all levels of government to fund the remaining infrastructure solutions needed to restore a clean and safe environment for everyone who works in, lives in, and visits the affected region.  

The challenges that 2025 brings are tremendous - a shift in federal administration, harmful and discriminatory rhetoric about the border region, tense international relations, ongoing climate impacts, continued population growth, and massive federal funding cuts expected across the board.  Yet, we are prepared to work even harder to support frontline communities bearing the brunt of this crisis, to advocate for solutions, and to nurture and cultivate the social movement that is reimagining what a healthy, safe, and flourishing transboundary region could look like.  We take our inspiration from all of you, who continue to show up again and again with renewed passion, perseverance, and heart to stand for a clean, healthy, resilient, equitable and safe environment for all. 

Photo: Edgar Ontiveros Medina, Unite to Heal Our Coast event, Oct. 2024

Please join us in this effort.  Learn more about Surfrider’s Clean Border Water Now program here and sign up to receive updates!  We are grateful for any way that you are able to join, support, and share our work on this crisis.