The Story Behind 'The Stinkiest Beach in America'
7/12/2024 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Imperial Beach faces severe sewage pollution from Tijuana, Mexico.
Once a world-class surfing destination, Imperial Beach is now plagued by pollution, with over 100 billion gallons of raw sewage washing in from Tijuana over the past five years. This has severely affected its reputation and environment, making it one of the stinkiest beaches in the US.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal
The Story Behind 'The Stinkiest Beach in America'
7/12/2024 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Once a world-class surfing destination, Imperial Beach is now plagued by pollution, with over 100 billion gallons of raw sewage washing in from Tijuana over the past five years. This has severely affected its reputation and environment, making it one of the stinkiest beaches in the US.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship-Along the sparkling, pristine shoreline of Southern California, something foul is washing ashore.
You may not be able to see it, but you sure know it's there.
-The smell comes at night.
They have to close their windows.
-When I go here, it always smells bad.
-Nauseating.
It will wake you up in the night.
-Imperial Beach, once considered a world-class surfing destination, now it's earned a different title.
-Who wants to buy a home, a million dollars and up, and be considered the stinkiest beach in the United States?
-It all starts in Tijuana, Mexico, where people, driven by poverty and a lack of shelter, build makeshift homes out of whatever they can find.
-There are plenty of communities that have been built with buildings of three, four, five stories with no attachment to the sewage system.
-When it rains, sewage and trash float down into the canal and into the Tijuana River toward the United States.
One hundred billion gallons of raw sewage washing into IB during the past five years.
Community members say it's hurting kids because they can't go to the beach.
-The fabric of community life in the South Bay is at the beach in IB, the Silver Strand State Beach in Coronado.
That's 12 miles of beach that we're missing to be able to use, and that's a crisis that has been completely ignored by the state of California.
-Those who do go in the water risk getting sick.
Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre is urging Governor Newsom to declare a state of emergency.
-I've heard the kick punting of the issue saying, "It's a Mexican problem.
Let the Mexican government fix it."
That's not acceptable anymore.
We are Californians on US soil that are being harmed by the biggest environmental disaster and public health threat right now, I would say, in the nation.
-For CalMatters, I'm Wendy Fry.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal