MAR 10, 2019

The poop crisis on the Mexican border

WRITTEN BY: Kathryn DeMuth Sullivan

While there has been a lot of focus lately on the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border, there's another border crisis that has nothing to do with immigration that hasn't been receiving its fair share of the spotlight: the poop crisis. The Tijuana River runs north from Mexico into California, bringing with it water from heavily populated areas of Mexico. Due to delays in infrastructure and a boom in population, Tijuana residents have resorted to using the river that runs through the city as a dumping ground. All of the waste, both human and otherwise, ends up flowing straight over the border and landing on Imperial Beach, a small Californian town. 

Oscar Romo, an environmental engineer, explains that the problem stems from poor urban planning and lack of sewage infrastructure. "When it rains, we are at the bottom of a canyon, so water will rush down and excavate really fast. It's an environmental disaster."