Trash and sediment have become a costly nightmare for the county and city of San Diego
A flooded field with a massive buildup of trash, raw sewage and debris litters the Tijuana River Valley on Feb. 7 in San Diego. The area was cleared in March. Nearly six months after a historic storm caused severe flooding in the Tijuana River Valley, work is under way to clear nightmarish amounts of sediment and repair berms that allowed a stinky medley of debris and sewage to accumulate on private and public lands.
Much of the polluted water, trash and sediment is carried through Smuggler’s Gulch, a small tributary that flows over the border from Tijuana, and discharges into the river despite efforts to capture and remove that flow. Excessive sedimentation, which the U.S. International Boundary and Wastewater Commission reported reaching peak levels this year, also clogs wastewater infrastructure that is already in poor shape and underfunded.
It’s the county’s “long-term” effort “to do source control right where Smuggler’s Gulch enters the United States, which happens to be on our county property,” Crystal Benham, chief of resource management for the county’s Parks and Recreation Dept., said at the July citizens forum of the U.S. IBWC.
There has also been deferred maintenance on city storm channels in the area, most recently seen after the Jan. 22 storm. San Diego has a $1.6 billion backlog of flood prevention projects, which include clearing clogged storm drains and channels.
One plan under review by the Regional Water Board involves filling the Nelson Sloan Quarry, a former mining site that was never restored to its natural elevation, with sediment and topping it with vegetation. The state Parks and Recreation Dept. certified the project’s environmental impact report in June 2023.
San Diego city said work to rebuild the berms along the east and west side of Smuggler’s Gulch that breached during the November 2023 and January storms was scheduled to begin Monday.
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