The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to advance a proposed action plan in response to the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis.
Supervisors directed Ebony Shelton, chief administrative officer, to present recommendations to the board on Sept. 30. Supervisor Jim Desmond was the lone no vote.
According to information on the supervisors’ Tuesday meeting agenda, plan options are:
designating a county sewage crisis chief matching funds used to improve air quality at schools with better filtration and cooling/heating systems conducting an epidemiological public health impact study on chronic hydrogen sulfide exposure an economic study on how the sewage crisis has affected small businesses, property values and regional tourism matching funds to help eliminate “toxic hot spots”Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer sponsored the proposal, in partnership with Paloma Aguirre, Imperial Beach mayor and a candidate for the District supervisor seat.
The sewage crisis is also a public health emergency, Lawson-Remer said before the vote.
“I hear constantly from families in my district and across the South Bay about kids who are getting sick, beaches that are closed,” said Lawson-Remer, who represents District 3.
She said the county’s congressional delegation has secured $650 million to fix the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, but that will take years to finish.
“We need a county-level plan that meets this moment — clear, strategic and ready to go when funding opens up,” she said.
Voters on July 1 will decide if Aguirre or Chula Vista Mayor John McCann will fill the District 1 vacancy left by Nora Vargas, who departed in January.
In a statement, after Tuesday’s vote, Aguirre said she was glad the county “is finally stepping up.”
“The real solution to this outrageous crisis still depends on Washington and Mexico stepping up,” Aguirre said. “But that doesn’t mean the county should sit on the sidelines and wait while South County families suffer.
“Now we need to keep (President) Donald Trump’s feet to the fire because for all his tough talk on the border, South County’s sewage crisis continues to be given lip service,” Aguirre added.
McCann didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In a statement after the vote, Desmond said the plan didn’t focus on Mexico taking more responsibility in solving the sewage problem, and “was nothing more than a (bandage).”
“I appreciate the attention being given to the Tijuana River crisis,” Desmond said, “but (the proposal) doesn’t address the root problem — raw sewage and industrial waste pouring into our country from Mexico.”
He added that if Mexico wasn’t polluting the county coastline, there wouldn’t be an issue with “toxic air at our schools or public health ‘hotspots,'” Desmond said.
“We don’t need another study, and I don’t believe appointing a ‘sewage crisis chief’ is going to suddenly stop Mexico from dumping sewage into San Diego,” he added. “We need real solutions, not more bureaucracy.”
City News Service contributed to this article.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘Stepping up’: Supervisors advance action plan for Tijuana River sewage crisis )
Also on site :