Tijuana River Pollution Carries an Eight-Billion-Dollar Worst-Case Price Tag
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The Tijuana River pollution crisis acquired a dollar figure on Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors received the county's first quantified economic estimate of the ongoing sewage and pollution problem. The consulting firm ECOnorthwest, contracted by the county, estimated that the region is losing between $125.6 million and $503.5 million every year. If nothing changes over twenty years, the cumulative toll could reach between $1.9 billion and $7.9 billion. The board received the report but took no formal action; a fuller analysis covering tourism, recreation, property values, and additional economic sectors is expected before supervisors meet again next month.
The estimate drew on input from more than two hundred residents and businesses. Among the findings: Imperial Beach saw its tourism-tax revenue fall nearly thirty percent from 2017 through 2024, compared with the regional average. The analysis also found larger enrollment and average-daily-attendance declines in school districts affected by the pollution than in the rest of the county — a dimension of the crisis that has received comparatively little public attention.
Earlier, the county approved an eighteen-month, $1.8 million engineering study for the Tijuana River Capture and Cleanup Initiative and $4 million specifically targeted at a permanent fix for the Saturn Boulevard air-pollution hot spot, one of the most acute sites for hydrogen sulfide and other gases generated by the sewage corridor.
At City Hall, the amended 107 Ash Street affordable housing conversion deal passed Tuesday. The Council changed the address designation from 101 Ash to 107 Ash Street and extended the ground lease from sixty to sixty-five years. The unit count went from two-fifty to two-fifty-two, and the developer's payment structure shifted from four percent simple interest to five percent compound interest — a change officials described as more favorable to the city over the long-term lease. The breakdown includes sixty-nine studios, fifty-five one-bedroom units, seventy-three two-bedrooms, and fifty-five three-bedrooms, with three reserved for on-site managers. Two hundred forty-nine units will serve households earning thirty to eighty percent of the county area median income. The plan includes 138 parking spaces, 25,000 square feet of retail, and a 4,000-square-foot childcare facility. The building has sat vacant for more than six years following asbestos disturbance during earlier construction.
In Bonita, sheriff's deputies broke up a party of roughly four hundred juveniles over the weekend after social-media posts surfaced showing underage drinking and what appeared to be a gun. Deputies deployed helicopter and K-9 support. The homeowner and a host were cited under the county's social-host ordinance, which holds adults responsible for underage drinking at properties they control. A related DUI arrest was made the prior evening.