METAPHOR ALERT: ‘Hard to fathom:’ Sewage crisis at Calif. coastline can be seen from space.
A new study using satellite images from NASA shows that an environmental crisis at the Tijuana-San Diego border can be seen from space, prompting new concerns from experts.
The image shows a wastewater plume just off Imperial Beach made up of toxic wastewater pollution from untreated sewage that’s flowing into the Tijuana Estuary and Pacific Ocean for years.
Kim Prather, an atmospheric scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a distinguished professor at University of San Diego, and her lab team have been studying the severe, toxic chemicals. She told SFGATE that the new NASA tool can help scientists figure out how far the pollution goes.
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“It boils down to the fact that it’s what feels like an unstoppable stench and an unstoppable flow of crap running through our communities …it’s just it’s hard to fathom how big the issue is,” Granados said. “People legit are sick, like physically ill, headaches, nausea, missing work, missing school, feeling bad, not going outside to, you know, exercise and do things outdoors. It’s like you can’t get away from it. It just smells so bad.”
Meanwhile, up north: Popular Bay Area beach is one of the most polluted in the US again.