The Tijuana River, or ‘Rio Tijuana’ in Spanish, was named ninth on the list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers by an environmental advocacy organization called American Rivers.
The organization’s 2024 report had a concluding sentence that doubled as a call to action: “Congress and the Biden Administration must take decisive and immediate action to address the crisis in the Tijuana River Watershed by fully funding the solutions needed to restore a clean and safe environment for the affected communities.”
American Rivers for 50 years has worked “to protect and restore all rivers, from remote mountain streams to urban waterways.”
This year, the organization, in collaboration with Surfrider Foundation and Un Mar de Colores, reports that clean water and public health spanning 120 miles of Baja California and Southern California in the U.S.-Mexico region are at risk.
“All water is connected. We cannot allow pollution anywhere without risk to the rivers we rely on for our drinking water,” President and CEO of American Rivers Tom Kiernan said in a April 15 report announcement. “Our leaders must hold polluters accountable and strengthen the Clean Water Act to safeguard our health and communities.”
According to the organization, the selection of the 2024 “Most Endangered Rivers” was based on three key criteria: the importance of the river to people and wildlife; the magnitude of the threat; a decision point in the coming year that the public can influence.
American Rivers identified toxic waste and raw sewage pollution as the threat affecting the Tijuana River Watershed, which enters the Pacific Ocean and sickens people and wildlife.
“It’s no longer a matter of avoiding the water to stay safe,” Sarah Davidson, ‘Clean Border Water Now’ campaign manager for the Surfrider Foundation, said about the Tijuana River. “The pollution has become so inundated that it’s now in the air, it’s in people’s homes, schools, and places of work. It’s impacting every aspect of community life.”
