Yesterday Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer convened a meeting with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (SDAPCD), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), County of San Diego Public Health Services (PHS), the Department of Environmental Quality (DEHQ), and researchers from San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego to discuss how to best collaborate and share information amongst the different groups and agencies working to address the odors and health effects of sewage from the Tijuana River Valley.  The region is experiencing a public health crisis and Supervisor Lawson-Remer is committed to responding with urgency to protect public health. 

Supervisor Lawson-Remer convened the meeting to ensure that all organizations are coordinating their efforts to protect the health and safety of residents across San Diego County. 

“Protecting the health and safety of residents and ensuring our air and water are clean and healthy is my number one priority. We are facing an urgent pollution crisis, and we need to aggressively investigate and monitor the situation with the best possible data to assess health risks and determine the appropriate public health response. Various people and entities have said many different things about the Tijuana Sewage air quality issue over the last couple of weeks. My goal for this meeting was to get everyone on the same page and start working together to share data and develop an action plan to address both chronic and acute exposures,” said Supervisor Lawson-Remer, Vice Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

The outcomes from the meeting were as follows:

• The agency representatives and researchers agreed on developing a framework for data sharing between the County and the researchers at UC San Diego and San Diego State University.

• Input from CDPH, CDC ATSDR, and EPA will provide guidance on the appropriate response and action levels to chronic exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H2S), given the levels that have been recorded by the researchers.

• The group reiterated the urgent need to develop a comprehensive continuous air quality monitoring system at the river and within the community.

• The group discussed the County’s role in facilitating UC San Diego researchers to continue collecting air quality data.

Supervisor Lawson-Remer added, “All of the entities play an important role, and they each have different responsibilities. It’s important the responsibilities are clearly communicated so the community has the most up to date data and information to make decisions. We have strong partners in our region including world class research institutions and we will continue to deepen our collaboration. My expectation from this meeting is that everyone will start working together better.”   

The County of San Diego on Saturday set up an internal Incident Command System (ICS) to manage the increasing activities in the Tijuana River Valley. This is a common internal practice to ensure the health and well-being of residents are top of mind throughout the enterprise, and information flow between County staff and the County Supervisors is clear.

County in June Agreed to Help Examine Possible Airborne Illnesses From Tj Sewage 

On June 25, 2024, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer passed a policy to have the County help address possible airborne contamination and noxious odors from the Tijuana Sewage Crisis by expanding data collection, examining health impacts on residents beyond direct water exposure, developing stronger decontamination protocols for sewage-contaminated floodwaters.  

Supervisor Lawson-Remer’s policy directed County staff to:

• Work with San Diego State University to launch a Community Health Survey examining health impacts beyond direct water exposure.

• Develop a Tijuana River Public Health Risk Dashboard in collaboration with researchers and other agencies.

• Develop a local decontamination protocol for sewage contaminated floodwaters.

• Collaborate with the Task Force to develop a list of data sources that can support tracking sewage-associated non-reportable diseases.

• Request zip-code level data from California Breathing Program.

• Enhance communication with other agencies to increase surveillance and testing under their purview, including San Diego Regional Water Control Board, San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, CDPH, and CDC.

• Pursue additional funding and support to assess economic and public health impacts of the sewage crisis.

County staff will report back to the Board quarterly with recommendations for further action to support these initiatives.

Board Chair Nora Vargas agreed to add her signature to the policy.