Photo: Tijuana River Estuary, San Diego County, USA, at the mouth of the Pacific Ocean, by Osbomb, Wikimedia Commons
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. sandiego.surfrider.org
