Community Voices

San Diego County Supervisor

I’m a surfer. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. If [I’m being hospitalized for struggling to breathe] it’s happening to dozens, if not hundreds, of people that are being exposed to this [pollution].”

Paloma Aguirre

psychologist and Imperial Beach resident

I think that certainly people are traumatized by being stressed and anxious. Parents are asking questions of, is it safe to drink the water? Is it safe to go in the water? Is it safe to go on the beach, to be on the sand? Is it safe to breathe the air?

Dr. Marvel Harrison

Nestor resident

I get the smell extremely strong in the evenings and mornings to the point it is hard to breathe. Over the last three months I have started hacking up large amounts of phlegm and thick snot due to inhaling the impurities in the air. Sometimes I feel it is hard to breathe and I experience headaches as well.

Nicholas Turner

UCSD Scripps Institute

The sewage crisis in San Diego doesn’t only affect you if you go in the water. Your main exposure is from the air that you are breathing. And nobody had really thought about that.... We inhale 11,000 liters of air each day, and so that is our number one exposure pathway, which has been almost completely ignored, especially the connection with what comes out of polluted water in the ocean.

Dr. Kimberly Prather

Coronado resident

"For people who live in beach communities, the beach is their park. Now, so many kids don't surf anymore. So many kids don't swim anymore. Gatherings that people used to have on the beach like weddings, birthday parties are cancelled. It was a place of beauty that people shared, and people don't go there anymore. Their playground is closed because it's poisoned.”

Laura Wilkinson Sinton

Nestor Planning Committee Leader and resident

"For the last couple of years it's been horrible. What's happening to our lungs and our bodies. I got e coli after I was down at the river, I was sicker than a dog and it lasted for weeks. I've got cancer. I've had congestion for a while and some sinus problems. it's probably from breathing this crap every day for years.”

Steve Egger

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© 2025 Tijuana River Coalition
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Artist Credit: Josué Baltézar (he/him) is an artist and designer who believes art should be accessible to everyone. He understands the crucial role that art and design play in advocating for environmental and social justice. This design for the Tijuana River Coalition brings together various elements to symbolize the dedication to advocacy for and protection of the Tijuana River region, which includes both sides of the US/MX border. A mountain sits prominently in the center, with two houses at its base, representing our communities on both sides of the border. The Tijuana River flows through the mountains and down into the foreground, where the river meets the Pacific Ocean. On the left and right of the mountains are native plants, including giant kelp on the left and prickly pear cactus on the right. Above the mountains, a brown pelican and a monarch butterfly fly toward a radiating sun. The design aims to convey a sense of interconnectedness and call attention to the need to protect our natural environment and the communities along the entire Tijuana River region.

Photography on this site by Surfrider Foundation and Veriditas Rising | Special thanks to Edgar Ontiveras Medina