Imperial Beach urgently needs federal funding to put an end to the Tijuana River’s ongoing sewage spill that’s kept portions of the city’s beaches closed, Mayor Paloma Aguirre wrote in a letter to the White House. Seeking a federal state of emergency status for the continued pollution, Mayor Aguirre called on the Biden administration to declare the emergency for the shoreline of Imperial Beach and the Tijuana River Valley. Such a proclamation would expedite funding and projects across federal agencies to tackle the source of the issue. … According to the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, more than 100 billion gallons of toxic waste have been documented entering the U.S. from the Tijuana River since October 2018. The effluent has also been credited with contributing to 34,000 illnesses in 2017, according to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.