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Bajaboy
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The Border's Massive Litter Problem
The Border's Massive Litter Problem
By ROB DAVIS
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/01/27/environme...
Monday, Jan. 26, 2009 | A mile north of the border fence, Mexico's garbage stands five feet high in places, a pointillistic rainbow made of plastics.
Royal blue oil containers. Green soda two-liters. Lavender fabric softener bottles.
There, in the Tijuana River basin, a wide channel that serves as the main drainage basin for Tijuana's storm water runoff, a stack of garbage
stretches almost a quarter-mile long. The plastic bottles have washed across the border and gotten stuck in plain sight.
Deeper in the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, on land owned by the county of San Diego, the litter dams up creeks, hangs from trees and lurks
beneath muddy paths. Tires, two-by-fours and Styrofoam punctuate the mess.
The region's attention has long focused on the environmental health problems caused by the millions of gallons of raw sewage and sediment that winter
rainfalls wash across the border into the United States, southern San Diego and the Pacific Ocean. The litter that comes with it has received less
attention -- something that activists and government officials alike hope to change.
On a recent afternoon, standing atop a tangle of garbage in the county park, Ben McCue lamented the never-ending cycle that drives the litter to
accumulate here. McCue, the coastal conservation program manager at Wildcoast, the Imperial Beach-based environmental group, had joined 200 other
volunteers at a June cleanup here to rip out old tires and whack back overgrown weeds. City Council President Ben Hueso, county Supervisor Greg Cox
and Assemblywoman Mary Salas joined in and celebrated the volunteers' efforts.
They filled an oversized dumpster with waste. They returned in October and filled another. They plucked 220 tires from the muck during the two
cleanups.
When they were finished, the trail they'd cleaned was passable.
Then, in November, rain fell.
Litter dumped in Tijuana's streets got flushed. Months of plastic bottles and other debris wound up in the county's 1,698-acre park. Today, the trail
smells rotten -- McCue has spotted dog carcasses -- and fetid sewage-tainted runoff stagnates in white plastic buckets. Spiders crawl through the
bramble.
Trash overwhelms this area each year. And each year, county parks employees wait for it to dry out and then clean it up. But the county can't address
the problem in Mexico, at its source.
The problem falls into the intractable policy gap that often defines the border environment. Local governments in the United States lack the authority
to negotiate or invest in solutions in Mexico. While the county's neighbor is essentially dumping trash on its land, the county doesn't go to talk to
its neighbor about the problem. The federal government is responsible for cross-border negotiations.
"We address the fact after the incident," said Renee Bahl, the county's parks and recreation director. Addressing the trash in Mexico "would be a
decision outside this department."
The trash spreads throughout the area. West of the county's land, volunteers removed 4,000 tires in 2005 from the Tijuana Estuary, a 2,500-acre salt
marsh adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, said Clay Phillips, the wetland's manager. Another two tons of garbage were cleaned out in 2007. But volunteer
cleanups in the estuary are infrequent. Organizers don't want volunteers tromping around in water often contaminated by sewage.
John Robertus, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, the local water pollution regulator, organized a coalition of
local and state officials that hopes to halt the cycle. Calling themselves the Tijuana River Valley Recovery Team, the group has divided into four
teams, each with a goal:
# Developing a way to intercept trash and sediment at the border. The California Integrated Waste Management Board last week awarded $250,000 to
install a trash boom -- a floating barrier -- to stop litter in Goat Canyon, a cross-border canyon that drains into Border Field State Park. But other
cross-border canyons still need improvements. The main river channel is among the most problematic.
# Determining out how much trash and sediment has accumulated throughout the area and then cleaning it up. Phillips dubbed one area "The Plug." Years
of trash have collected and been fixed in place by mud. "I think we'd be amazed at how much trash has accumulated in the river valley," Phillips said.
"Nobody knows how much is there."
# Creating a plan for restoring the Tijuana River to a normal, functioning ecosystem. Arundo and other invasive weeds are prolific; sediment that
washed across the border from Tijuana's denuded hillsides inundates the area, eliminating rich wetlands habitat home to several threatened and
endangered bird species.
# Reducing pollution in Mexico. "We can't deal with it without solving it in Mexico," Robertus said. Pollution could be reduced in Tijuana by
expanding municipal trash service, he said, and cleaning up litter from storm drainage channels before rainstorms.
"The trash and debris that enters the storm drain system" -- primarily the wide concrete channel that cuts through Tijuana near the San Ysidro border
crossing -- "it's just a real good way to get rid of it," Robertus said. "Nobody cares because they know it's going away and going over the border. It
takes it away very efficiently."
While Robertus wants to see an investment made in Mexico, he lacks the authority to negotiate with Mexico or spend state money there. He is turning to
Oscar Romo, the coastal training program coordinator at the nearby Tijuana Estuary. Romo has brought two top Tijuana city officials to see the problem
up close.
Romo said U.S. officials need to first recognize that their counterparts in Tijuana are willing to work to solve the problem. The answer is simple,
Romo said. Bottles tossed into the streets wind up in narrow runoff channels that cut throughout Tijuana's neighborhoods. Installing and maintaining
trash booms in the channels that feed the city's main river basin would keep trash out, Romo said.
"It's not a lost cause," Romo said. "We know exactly where the trash is coming from. It's a matter of catching the trash before it reaches the river.
Technically it's really easy. Funding is lacking."
Please contact Rob Davis directly at rob.davis@voiceofsandiego.org with your thoughts, ideas, personal stories or tips. Or set the tone of the debate
with a letter to the editor.
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CaboRon
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Mexico is such a good neighbor 
Change has to start with the children ....
I see them open their candy and drop the trash even if they are literally within feet of a trash can.
When they become adults they have no pride in their surroundings.
It takes so little effort to not be a litterbug.
CaboRon
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Pescador
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In our little village, we have a Canadian visitor who comes every year and she seems to be especially offended by the trash and litter. She organizes
a little group of youngsters and herself and they pick up trash for a whole week and her husband manages to haul everything to the dump that gets
picked up. I often wondered, after several years, if there was any real change in behavior but in talking to some of the local people, what I heard
was, "Don't worry about that trash, it is almost November, and Mrs. ........ will be here and it will soon go away."
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mulegemichael
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EVERYONE has to contribute to NO BASURA...some people just don't get it and will always have an excuse for tossing it so it's gonna be a long row to
hoe
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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BMG
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Registered: 6-10-2007
Location: La Paz / Bahia Asunci�n / Away from home
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Drove out of La Paz towards El Centenario yesterday. There were large black plastic bags filled with trash lining both sides of the highway for miles.
There were 100's of them. A trash truck was going along the side of the road collecting them.
I think the world is run by C- students.
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vandenberg
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Took years and years of education before any improvement was made in both western Europe and the USA & Canada.
If they keep up instilling the clean concept into the youngsters an improvement is inevitable. Takes time.
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LB
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I agree with education, local schools kids are being taught here and we have
a clean up group every Monday. I get amazed....Like the time a man was
giving a quote on a door, saw a candy on the table and asked if he could
have it.....yes of course. But what did I find on the stairs on the way down.
THE CANDY WRAPPER! No more candy for him.
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Salsa
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
Mexico is such a good neighbor
Change has to start with the children ....
I see them open their candy and drop the trash even if they are literally within feet of a trash can.
When they become adults they have no pride in their surroundings.
It takes so little effort to not be a litterbug.
CaboRon |
Perfect response.
Perfect response for us too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When the adults don't obey the laws, the kids don;t obey the laws.
Don
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Woooosh
Banned
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Location: Rosarito Beach
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Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
Mexico is such a good neighbor
Change has to start with the children ....
I see them open their candy and drop the trash even if they are literally within feet of a trash can.
When they become adults they have no pride in their surroundings.
It takes so little effort to not be a litterbug.
CaboRon |
We put out trash cans and people throw their bottles and trash on the beach anyway. The worst offenders are the drunk teens and young adults.
Only ONCE in five years have we seen a family pick up trash from the whole area and teach their children respect for the beach (we went over and
thanked them all).
I see school soccer coaches push empty beer bottles in the sand for practice drills- then watch the boys smash the bottles in the sand after practice.
I've seen people throw their dead dogs on the beach in front of my house (is a trash bag)- with their children still in the car. On the same topic-
I've been yelled at for throwing my plastic bags of dog crap in the trash cans! Seem the trash scavengers don't like to get it on their hands while
digging for treasure.
Car batteries and car tires are everywhere on the beach- as are all the other parts of car. Ii winter storms Rosarito Beach is Rosa-retread Beach.
One day I counted fifty tires from my wndow.
I've seen everything you can imagine from used diapers, sanitary napkins, used codoms, dead rats and dead cats bubble up from the open street manhole
covers during rain storms- and flow directly onto the beach to pool up. Then their children come to play in that toxic mess like it's a "Lake
Rosarito".
Iv'e seen grown ladies and men squat next to their cars to defacte and just leave it there.
This area (Roasrtio Beach) has no idea of environmental anything- and it all flows north to Imperial Beach in a day or two. It' just gross.
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Woooosh
| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
Mexico is such a good neighbor
Change has to start with the children ....
I see them open their candy and drop the trash even if they are literally within feet of a trash can.
When they become adults they have no pride in their surroundings.
It takes so little effort to not be a litterbug.
CaboRon |
We put out trash cans and people throw their bottles and trash on the beach anyway. The worst offenders are the drunk teens and young adults.
Only ONCE in five years have we seen a family pick up trash from the whole area and teach their children respect for the beach (we went over and
thanked them all).
I see school soccer coaches push empty beer bottles in the sand for practice drills- then watch the boys smash the bottles in the sand after practice.
I've seen people throw their dead dogs on the beach in front of my house (is a trash bag)- with their children still in the car. On the same topic-
I've been yelled at for throwing my plastic bags of dog crap in the trash cans! Seem the trash scavengers don't like to get it on their hands while
digging for treasure.
Car batteries and car tires are everywhere on the beach- as are all the other parts of car. Ii winter storms Rosarito Beach is Rosa-retread Beach.
One day I counted fifty tires from my wndow.
I've seen everything you can imagine from used diapers, sanitary napkins, used codoms, dead rats and dead cats bubble up from the open street manhole
covers during rain storms- and flow directly onto the beach to pool up. Then their children come to play in that toxic mess like it's a "Lake
Rosarito".
Iv'e seen grown ladies and men squat next to their cars to defacte and just leave it there.
This area (Roasrtio Beach) has no idea of environmental anything- and it all flows north to Imperial Beach in a day or two. It' just gross.
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by Woooosh] |
Mexico is striving to be a fourth world country
And Rosarito beach should be sanitized ....
Are we going to have to send in the marines to clean this mess up ....
That toxic sludge is just the same as an attack on the US ...
Mexico is not a friend of the USA ...
CaboRon
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mulegemichael
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Posts: 2310
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Location: sequim,wa. and mulege
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woosh and cabo ron....if it's so bad down here why are you living here?
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
woosh and cabo ron....if it's so bad down here why are you living here? |
As if it is any of your business where I live ......
I am leaving this dirt hole on May first ....
And you can stay with the cavemen of La Baja :lol
And make rationalizations every day about how it is OK because this is Mexico ... Keep lying to yourself.
And you don't mind getting nicked for a few bucks by every sleezeball you meet 
And you think it is OK to be ripped off because it is they are poor people and it is their custom ....
Well, B. S. to that .
CaboRon
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vandenberg
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Boy, oh, boy
We'll miss you.
BTW, any chance of speeding it up
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by vandenberg]
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CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
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Location: The Valley of the Moon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by vandenberg
Boy, oh, boy
We'll miss you.
BTW, any chance of speeding it up
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by vandenberg] |
Certainly, you can make donations to my PayPal account.
And believe me when I say, there will be no love lost with your ilk ...
CaboRon
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The Gull
Super Nomad
Posts: 2223
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rancho Descanso, BCN
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
| Quote: | Originally posted by vandenberg
Boy, oh, boy
We'll miss you.
BTW, any chance of speeding it up
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by vandenberg] |
Certainly, you can make donations to my PayPal account.
And believe me when I say, there will be no love lost with your ilk ...
CaboRon |
Give me your e-mail address so I can send you 25 cents (two bits), but only if you quit posting today. You can leave Baja at anytime, since the 2nd
annual Animal Fundraiser is over.
Now, Wooooooosh, what would it take for you to do the same two things?
�I won\'t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.� William F. Buckley, Jr.
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17943
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Online
Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Woooosh
| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
Mexico is such a good neighbor
Change has to start with the children ....
I see them open their candy and drop the trash even if they are literally within feet of a trash can.
When they become adults they have no pride in their surroundings.
It takes so little effort to not be a litterbug.
CaboRon |
We put out trash cans and people throw their bottles and trash on the beach anyway. The worst offenders are the drunk teens and young adults.
Only ONCE in five years have we seen a family pick up trash from the whole area and teach their children respect for the beach (we went over and
thanked them all).
I see school soccer coaches push empty beer bottles in the sand for practice drills- then watch the boys smash the bottles in the sand after practice.
I've seen people throw their dead dogs on the beach in front of my house (is a trash bag)- with their children still in the car. On the same topic-
I've been yelled at for throwing my plastic bags of dog crap in the trash cans! Seem the trash scavengers don't like to get it on their hands while
digging for treasure.
Car batteries and car tires are everywhere on the beach- as are all the other parts of car. Ii winter storms Rosarito Beach is Rosa-retread Beach.
One day I counted fifty tires from my wndow.
I've seen everything you can imagine from used diapers, sanitary napkins, used codoms, dead rats and dead cats bubble up from the open street manhole
covers during rain storms- and flow directly onto the beach to pool up. Then their children come to play in that toxic mess like it's a "Lake
Rosarito".
Iv'e seen grown ladies and men squat next to their cars to defacte and just leave it there.
This area (Roasrtio Beach) has no idea of environmental anything- and it all flows north to Imperial Beach in a day or two. It' just gross.
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by Woooosh] |
In the past I avoided Rosarito because I thought the town was crowded, dirty and tacky. Now I have a new reason to avoid all urban north baja beaches,
wooshie's description of pollution turned my stomach.
Conservatives whine about environmental whackos making things complicated in USA, but I sure do like how environmental whackos made USA clean up it's
act in the 1970s and now we got pretty clean rivers and beaches.
Give a hoot, don't pullute!
Yes we can!
Peace out!
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Woooosh
This area (Roasrtio Beach) has no idea of environmental anything- and it all flows north to Imperial Beach in a day or two. It' just
gross.
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If that were the case I wouldn't care. It doesn't all flow north. 
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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Then you should give it another try
| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
In the past I avoided Rosarito because I thought the town was crowded, dirty and tacky. |
Rosarito is no longer crowded.
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The Gull
Super Nomad
Posts: 2223
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rancho Descanso, BCN
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Mood: High
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
wooshie's description of pollution turned my stomach.
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Liar, goats can and do eat everything.
�I won\'t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.� William F. Buckley, Jr.
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Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
woosh and cabo ron....if it's so bad down here why are you living here? |
That's always the first argument the stupid use. "Go back to mexico", "go back to canada" ," go back to the usa" .
Like Obama says- dumb people make dumb statements because they are "mentally bankrupt" and don't have any workable solutions- so they resort to name
calling.
Blinders dont remove trash- people remove trash. I removed every piece of trash I noted in my post BY MYSELF- (except for the crap) while the
mexican neighbors laughed. They watched- but didn't help. I din't bury the dog- but it at least made it into a trashcan. What a country- and this
is the TOURIST ZONE.
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by Woooosh]
[Edited on 1-27-2009 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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