On some mornings in San Diego, the air feels different.
There’s no visible smoke, no sirens, no immediate warning. Just a faint smell — sharp, unfamiliar and easy to dismiss if you don’t know what it is. For families in South Bay communities like Imperial Beach and San Ysidro, that smell is not occasional. It’s part of daily life.
It comes from the long-troubled Tijuana River, carrying untreated sewage and industrial waste across the border and into our neighborhoods. For years, this has been framed as an environmental issue — something unfortunate, but distant. In reality, it is a public health crisis unfolding in plain sight.
The scale of the problem is not small. In recent years, billions of gallons of sewage-contaminated water have flowed through the Tijuana River Valley into U.S. territory, forcing repeated beach closures and raising serious health concerns. Hydrogen sulfide — the gas responsible for the “rotten egg” smell — has been detected in surrounding communities, sometimes at levels that disrupt schools and outdoor activities.
Children play outside breathing this air. Families keep windows closed on warm days. Residents report headaches, respiratory irritation and a constant worry that something invisible is affecting their health. And yet, for too long, the response has been slow, fragmented and insufficient.
San Diego is known for its coastline, its climate, its quality of life. But that image depends on which ZIP code you live in. While some communities enjoy clean beaches and ocean breezes, others are forced to navigate contamination and uncertainty — without the same level of urgency from decision-makers.
This is not just about pollution drifting north. It is about what we choose to prioritize.
Cross-border challenges are complex. They require coordination, diplomacy and sustained funding. But complexity cannot become an excuse for inaction. The science is not unclear. The impacts are not hypothetical. The communities affected are not invisible.
What is missing is urgency that matches the scale of the problem.
We need faster infrastructure upgrades to stop untreated sewage before it reaches our shores. We need consistent federal, state and local coordination — not temporary fixes that fail during the next surge. We need transparent public health data so families can understand the risks they are living with. And above all, we need leadership willing to treat this as the crisis it is.
Because when air quality becomes a daily concern, when children’s health becomes a question mark, and when entire communities are asked to simply “cope,” something has already gone too far.
San Diego cannot claim to be a region of innovation and well-being while parts of it are quietly carrying this burden.
The air we don’t talk about is still being breathed.
And the longer we wait to act, the harder it will be to undo the damage.
Shikha Bansal is a San Diego writer, parent and caregiver.
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