Members of San Diego’s congressional delegation are asking the U.S. Dept. of the Navy to launch information that will reveal the true results the Tijuana sewage disaster has had on Naval operations.
On Jan. 23, Reps. Juan Vargas, Scott Peters, Sara Jacobs, Darrell Issa and Mike Levin wrote a letter to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro requesting statistics for 2022 and 2023.
They particularly need to know what number of instances coaching or operations have been suspended or relocated due to seaside closures, the prices of getting to relocate or halt operations and the way usually personnel are elevating considerations about illness or accidents — and the kind — after coming in touch with contaminated water and sand. Moreover, they requested how the Navy has been gathering this data.
In February 2023, the Navy stated that the variety of in-water coaching periods canceled on the Silver Strand Coaching Complicated in Coronado went from none in 2021 to greater than 20 in 2022, the Congressional delegation stated in its letter.
Coronado is residence to the U.S. Naval Particular Warfare Command and neighbors Imperial Seaside. For months on finish, their shorelines had been shut down as a result of untreated wastewater repeatedly spills over the border from Mexico. And when it rains, air pollution is flushed by the Tijuana River and into the South County area.
“These flows have impacted water high quality at seashores in our area — together with these the place Navy Seals frequently practice,” the letter says. “If the air pollution within the ( Tijuana River Valley) will not be addressed, we’re involved that additional coaching cancellations on account of water high quality considerations may hurt the Navy and our army readiness.”
Brian O’Rourke, Navy Area Southwest spokesperson, stated Friday that when the county points a water advisory due to poor water high quality, “in-water coaching evolutions are delayed, moved or canceled to mitigate any potential affect in accordance with our established threat administration protocols.”
“Like native residents who work and swim in native waters, the Navy does have some concern concerning the quantity of sewage and particles that pollutes the south San Diego County shoreline, causes erosion, damages pure sources and impacts the well being and well-being of our group,” he added.
Equally, U.S. Border Patrol brokers have raised considerations in regards to the well being dangers of working in usually polluted terrain within the Tijuana River Valley.
Officers will use the information to additional construct their case for why funding is urgently wanted to repair and develop a dilapidated wastewater facility in San Diego that treats sewage from Mexico.
This story initially appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
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