San Diego County takes charge of Tijuana pollution problem

San Diego is done waiting. The county Board of Supervisors voted this week to authorize a three-phase plan to treat Mexican sewage that empties into the Pacific Ocean and fouls some of California’s finest beaches.

Frankly, that is the kind of leadership that is sorely needed.

For years, the state and federal government have been slow to act. The Trump administration deserved credit for signing an agreement last year with Mexico to expand wastewater treatment facilities and divert what has already been treated for sewage.

But after a summer in which beachgoers were turned away, and kids in summer camp had to be bused north just to reach clean water, local government has decided to take matters into its own hands.

As the California Post reported, the county will first study different sewage treatment systems, then start installing facilities that can treat water from the Tijuana River before it reaches the Pacific.

San Diego County has long been a leader on water issues, with a desalination plant in Carlsbad providing about 10% of the water for the region.

The county is doing what it must to protect the health and safety of locals, and to protect the tourist industry from Tijuana’s impact.

After all, this summer has been one of the most brutal — with toxic gas flowing northward with the river, along with polluted water. 

Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs, and provokes an instant reaction of disgust and revulsion from anyone near it.

No one is going to want to come near a San Diego beach community that smells like that. 

San Diego County can’t deal with the entire problem by itself. Mexico still has to live up to the commitments that it made to President Donald Trump in its agreement.

But the county has decided it also has to act, now.

With any luck, the mere fact that local officials have decided to invest in additional water treatment facilities to stop the Tijuana River pollution might spur officials in Mexico, and in Washington, to act with greater urgency.

This, and not “climate change,” is the kind of environmental problem that Californians care about — and that we can do something about.

Whether or not you believe climate change is real, emissions are rising so quickly in China that any emissions cuts in California are canceled out.

But we can take care of our water. San Diego County is doing just that.

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