{"id":174,"date":"2026-05-09T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/californiamovingreport.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/09\/how-sewage-pollution-in-a-california-beach-town-is-affecting-kids-health-headaches-rashes-and-more\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T15:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:00:39","slug":"how-sewage-pollution-in-a-california-beach-town-is-affecting-kids-health-headaches-rashes-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/californiamovingreport.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/09\/how-sewage-pollution-in-a-california-beach-town-is-affecting-kids-health-headaches-rashes-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"How sewage pollution in a California beach town is affecting kids\u2019 health: Headaches, rashes and more"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week fog crept over the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach, oozing a pungent rotten-egg smell, as hydrogen sulfide bubbled up from the polluted Tijuana River.<\/p>\n

Read more California blew a hole in environmental planning law. Now, lawmakers are trying to fix it<\/a><\/p>\n

Virginia Castellanos, the school nurse for Bayside STEAM Academy near the estuary, worried that students would get headaches, upset stomachs or breathing problems from the foul odor. She had another pressing concern: her own seven-year-old daughter was home sick with asthma, which flares up when pollution spikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been having headaches and nausea this whole week,\u201d Castellanos said. \u201cThe smell has been so bad. And I was already expecting my daughter to get sick and sure enough, in the last couple days, she\u2019s showing symptoms and she said, \u2018Mom, I need my inhaler.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that day, Thursday, March 19, air pollution monitoring data showed hydrogen sulfide levels at 500 parts per billion, more than 15 times the California state standard of 30 parts per billion. News reports stated that high temperatures last week, combined with cross-border sewage flows from a broken pump in a Tijuana sewage facility, contributed to the odor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Castellanos had to leave work early the previous day to bring her daughter home, and expected to do so again Thursday to take her to the doctor. The risk went beyond the asthma attack itself; on previous occasions the respiratory distress progressed to pneumonia and weeks of illness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I can smell it starting again I can guarantee you she\u2019s going to get sick,\u201d Castellanos said.<\/p>\n

The symptoms that Castellanos sees among her students and her own family are common among residents of Imperial Beach and other parts of south San Diego affected by Tijuana River pollution.<\/p>\n

When raw sewage enters the river in Mexico because of wastewater system failures or spills, the health impacts are felt across the border. Imperial Beach residents describe asthma, migraines, rashes, nausea, eye irritation, dizziness and brain fog when the sickening smell of hydrogen sulfide wafts off the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe patients tell us,\u201d said Dr. Kimberly Dickson, a physician who runs South Bay Urgent Care. \u201cThey come in and say \u2018The air smells terrible, I need to use my inhaler more. The air smells terrible, I have headaches.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The foul odor often keeps children indoors, away from parks or beaches. At school it forces them to stay in the classroom and off the playground, and sometimes leaves them home sick. The coastal environment that drew many families to the seaside community has become a hazard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like working and living here and having our kids in school close to home, but it is toxic,\u201d said Bethany Case, an Imperial Beach resident, Surfrider volunteer and mother of two teenage sons. \u201cWe\u2019re living in this beach community and we\u2019re not living a beach life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents try to manage the effects of pollution by stocking inhalers, using air purifiers and limiting outdoor activity. But they wonder if the exposure puts children at risk of worse health problems in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re smelling this air, and they\u2019re being exposed on a daily basis,\u201d Castellanos said. \u201cWhat kind of damage is happening to their lungs? What kind of damage is happening to their bodies, their eyes, their nose. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen down the line. What kind of health impacts are going to happen to these children?<\/p>\n

A field trip, then a rash\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For 9-year-old Alan Gonzalez, the problems started after a class visit to the estuary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The salt marsh is the backyard to Bayside Academy. It\u2019s a haven for wildlife, where egrets, ducks and other shorebirds wade in ponds dotted with aquatic plants. Western fence lizards sun themselves on the walkway, and cottontail rabbits dart through grass along the wetland.<\/p>\n

On a recent nature walk, Alan and his classmates uprooted invasive flowers and planted native vegetation, said his mother, Farron Espinoza. He was uncomfortable when he got home, but he\u2019s on the autism spectrum and has a hard time verbalizing his experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next day he was really upset and irritated,\u201d and told her his whole body was itchy, she said. \u201cSo when I checked him he had a rash all over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Espinoza called Alan\u2019s doctor, who diagnosed him with an allergic reaction and prescribed benadryl and topical lotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A week later, Alan was still distressed. He scratched so much he cut himself. Espinoza had to wrap him in hugs to keep his hands still.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t itch for a while, because my mom was threatening me to go to the doctor,\u201d Alan said.<\/p>\n

Read more Sparse snowpack in California fuels concern over fast-approaching fire season<\/a><\/p>\n

Espinoza eventually did take her son to see a doctor, who gave him a new diagnosis and a course of antibiotics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did say that he\u2019s seen other children with this kind of rash, and normally it\u2019s because they had been to the beach and they were exposed to bacteria,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has been foggy lately, so this can actually be airborne bacteria. Yes, they\u2019re saying it could be aerosolized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even after the rash subsided, it left Alan with new fears about the natural environment near his school and home. Espinoza had hoped to enroll him in a Saturday nature program where kids explore the estuary and learn about habitat and wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to do that anymore because he\u2019s scared that he\u2019s going to get a reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health impacts on students<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Tijuana River has posed complicated challenges since the U.S. and Mexico began jointly managing its flows more than 80 years ago. A wastewater system on both sides of the border kept pollution in check for decades, but those facilities began to fail in the early 2000s, contaminating beaches and sickening swimmers and surfers. The problems escalated about a decade ago, following major spills from the dilapidated wastewater plants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unsafe conditions have closed parts of the Imperial Beach shoreline for three years, and in 2024, researchers revealed that the pollution could become airborne, confirming concerns of residents who complained of foul odors and baffling ailments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t notice the smell until it got really bad three years ago,\u201d Castellanos said. \u201cIt never crossed my mind that it was coming from the sewage.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the problem escalated, the San Diego Health and Human Services Agency asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help measure it. There are no studies that comprehensively documented effects on schools and students, but two public health studies published in October, 2024 examined how sewage pollution from the Tijuana River was disrupting the lives of residents, including school aged children.<\/p>\n

A CASPER study, or community assessment for public health emergency response, found that about 20 percent of households in the area reported disruption to school or work during the previous month due to sewage pollution, and nearly 8 percent had disruptions to daycare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another, called an ACE investigation, or assessment of chemical exposure, reported even more widespread problems. Nearly two-thirds of residents surveyed said their child missed school or daycare because of symptoms they believed were linked to the Tijuana River sewage crisis.<\/p>\n

South Bay Union School District tracks pollution levels using monitoring data from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, Amy Cooper, an executive assistant to the superintendent, said in an email to CalMatters. The air district operates monitoring devices on district property near Berry Elementary, the campus closest to the source of pollution. Schools also received more than half million dollars from the air district to buy 199 air purifiers and a five-year supply of replacement filters.<\/p>\n

When levels of hydrogen sulfide exceed state standards, officials call a \u201crainy day schedule\u201d to keep kids in the classroom and run air purifiers in all indoor spaces, Cooper said. That\u2019s what happened last Thursday, March 19, when the heat and pump malfunction triggered the sewer smell.<\/p>\n

Public school funding is based on average daily attendance, so when students are absent because of pollution-related illness, that can mean lost revenue. Cooper said the district tracks illness-related absences based on what parents report, but a 2024 search of its database found no instances of \u201cborder sewage\u201d or \u201csewage\u201d as reasons given for absences.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we are unable to attribute specific absences to the pollution crisis and we have no evidence that the pollution is directly impacting ADA, we cannot file to recoup ADA as we would do in the case of natural disaster like wildfire,\u201d she wrote in an email to CalMatters.<\/p>\n

Even when students remain in class, symptoms caused by hydrogen sulfide odor may interfere with learning, Dr. Dickson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re walking to school in the middle of this and then they have brain fog when they get there,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then they go to school and they\u2019re expected to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite schools\u2019 steps to mitigate pollution exposure, parents regret that their kids are missing opportunities for outdoor activity and adventure. Espinoza grew up in Imperial Beach, and recalls a childhood spent on the water, with beach field trips a regular part of her school schedule. She hoped Alan would enjoy the same opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, you want your children to experience all the beautiful things that you had in your own childhood,\u201d she said. \u201cYou try to kind of recreate those moments, and we really can\u2019t do that. I really can\u2019t take him to the bay because it\u2019s dirty and it smells.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Endangered salmon returned to California\u2019s far north \u2014 then the money dried up<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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