Ex-IB mayor says sewage crisis takes backseat to border issues
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Former Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina. Photo: Kevin Stewart
Few people have been as involved as Serge Dedina in solving cross-border sewage that contaminated San Diego beaches — which is why his recent announcement stood out.
Driving the news: Dedina, the former mayor of Imperial Beach, said last month his conservation organization Wildcoast left IB in 2021 over health concerns.
- "In 2017, this wave of aerosolized sewage permeated IB for a week, and I got really sick. Then we had this never-ending wave of sewage episodes that would leave people in our office getting sick, Dedina told Axios.
- "With the stench of sewage on Seacoast Drive, where we'd been since 2000, our staff just no longer thought it was desirable to work there."
Why it matters: Local leaders are imploring state and federal officials to fix the long-running problem by repairing and upgrading one water treatment facility in San Ysidro and another six miles south of the border, from which sewage flows plague Imperial Beach and Coronado.
- Meanwhile, calls for an emergency declaration are falling flat.
What he's saying: Dedina said officials on both sides of the border are refusing to make emergency fixes until they can fund a long-term solution.
- "There's this disconnect between, 'Yes, we're gonna have a long-term plan, and in five years you, you can have a partial solution' and us asking: 'Can we just do what we do in every other emergency situation and fix these problems immediately? What are we waiting for?'"
State of play: Federal officials, Dedina said, are unwilling to demand Mexico fix the problem.
- "The deteriorating nature of the U.S.-Mexico relationship and the focus on immigration, fentanyl, and weapons has really hurt us resolving this issue," he said. "It's clear that other border issues have pushed this to the backseat over larger structural problems between the United States and Mexico."
- In 2020, the former Baja governor held three press conferences demanding Dedina apologize for criticizing Mexico over the sewage crisis.
- "There's a political cost to pay for being outspoken on this issue, and I paid that price when I was mayor for sure, in terms of, attacks from Mexico to the point where I was advised to stop going to Mexico for a little bit."
What we're watching: The San Diego Association of Governments' board voted Friday to urge state and federal governments to declare a state of emergency, joining IB Mayor Paloma Aguirre's plea for urgency.