Unplanned squatter settlements are leading
to urban sprawl. |
Environmental and health impacts to Imperial
Beach residents and flora & fauna of the Tijuana River Estuary.
Urban sprawl in the Tijuana-Tecate Corridor leads to the disruption
of binational wildlife corridors and the degradation of the Tijuana
River Watershed. (NOTE: 1/3 of the Tijuana River watershed is on
the U.S. side of the border.) |
A grant from the California Coastal
Conservancy is helping Tijuana's IMPLAN
to develop a plan to reduce stormwater runoff and promote community
development in surrounding slums that contribute to groundwater
pollution.
|
Siting of assembly/manufacturing facilities near under served
communities in Tijuana and San Diego. |
Contributes to binational environmental health impacts including
exposures to air pollution, hazardous waste, and water pollution.
Raises environmental justice concerns. |
San Diego based Environmental Health Coalition (EHC)
has focused its attention to environmental health and justice issues
in San Diego and Tijuana, “providing technical and organizing
assistance to populations adversely affected by toxic chemicals. Ensenada
based Pronatura is developing a plan to identify
priority binational conservation corridors and is working pro-actively
with San Diego based Conservation Biology Institute (CBI)
and the Nature Conservancy (TNC) on this effort. |
Siting of Liquified Natural Gas facilities
along the Baja California coastline. |
Will provide increased energy security for
the San Diego-Tijuana region but will also have potential negative
impacts on the region's
threatened coastal habitats. There are also some underlying safety
concerns. |
Opportunities exist for the companies now considering
LNG facilities (Sempra, Shell, Chevron-Texaco) to pro-actively identify
win-win solutions to minimize the environmental impacts while providing
positive net benefits to the communities where they will operate. |
Mining of sand from Tecate riverbeds for export to San Diego’s
construction industry and beach restoration. |
Permanent destruction of binational watershed and groundwater
aquifers |
Governor Elorduy has recently banned the exportation of Baja California
sand but, sadly, sand is still being taken away. |
| Inadequate treatment of sewage from Tijuana in
processing plants in San Diego |
Beach closures in Imperial Beach after heavy
rain; water pollution and negative impact on coastal habitat |
Support for on-going citizen-based binational
water quality monitoring on both sides of the border. Tijuana based
Ja Jan is already undertaking such work with SWIA
and San Diego Baykeeper. |