CDC To Return To Tijuana River Valley To Check Extent Of Contamination From Years Of Sewage Water

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will reportedly return to the Tijuana River Valley this week to further examinate the extent of the pollution caused by the flow of sewage water into the area coming from Mexico.

According to Border Report, personnel will return to the area to study the effects of pollution in the valley. They will engage with scientists from the University of California at San Diego and San Diego State University, who have been following the problem for several years.

The findings will likely spur calls from local officials, who have been calling on the federal government to act on the matter.

Earlier this year, Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre slammed the Biden administration for refusing to declare an emergency, saying she and a delegation visited the White House three times this year with this purpose.

"It's extremely concerning that we have the largest health crisis, the biggest environmental injustice in the nation and we haven't seen that leadership from both our state and federal governments," Aguirre told the outlet, remarking that California Gov. Gavin Newsom took the same stance as Biden.

Newsom visited the area for the first time in late October to take part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego. However, Aguirre told the outlet back then that the "plant is not going to reduce our crisis."

Imperial Beach is one of the most affected areas by the sewage and overall pollution coming into the Tijuana River Valley from Mexico; its beach was recently deemed one of the most polluted in the country.

Lee Zeldin, President Trump's EPA administrator, said in April that he would be traveling to the area soon to get a look at "where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States." He said that Mexico must quickly implement solutions, a statement praised by Aguirre. Zelding did visit the area on April 23 and urged Mexico to help address the crisis.

"We're going to know whether or not Mexico is going to do its part to resolve it, and then we'll go from there, as far as strategy and tactics," Zeldin said.

Mexican Environment and Natural Resources secretary, Alicia Barcena, said the country also wants to deal with the issue and that she and Zeldin made progress in finding solutions in a meeting they held when he traveled to the area.