Waste dumped into the Tijuana River can travel seven times farther than expected before becoming airborne and affecting San Diego’s air, at least 20 miles from its source, according to UC Riverside research. The river carries a complex mixture of untreated sewage from toilets, industrial waste, and urban runoff into the Pacific Ocean at Imperial Beach. The study, published in Scientific Reports, found that wastewater chemicals can remain in the ocean long enough to then travel north along the San Diego coast before escaping into the atmosphere. The finding helps explain why researchers detected Tijuana River-linked pollution in the air near the Scripps Institution of Oceanography pier in La Jolla, roughly 22 miles from the river mouth. … Previous research demonstrated that human waste flowing through the Tijuana River affects air quality in communities near the border. For this study, the researchers wanted to know whether the pollution might extend further.

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