Whiffs of sewer gas in the South Bay have received renewed attention from UC San Diego and San Diego State University scientists recently.
Dr. Kimberly Prather, with UC San Diego, and Dr. Paula Granados, with San Diego State University, tested for samples of hydrogen sulfide, which causes the sewer gas odor, at what they call "hot spots" in the Tijuana River Valley.
Prather said she and her team took samples at points where the river crosses with Hollister Rd. and Saturn Blvd.
Prather said the testings found high levels of hydrogen sulfide in the thousands, and she came up with a theory on how to potentially bring those levels down.
"So we had this hypothesis that if they could stop or lower the flow [where the Tijuana River intersects with Saturn Blvd], at that point the levels of hydrogen sulfide would go down," Prather said. "And guess what - they helped us do our experiment, they helped us test our experiment, cause last night, we measured and guess what happened to the hydrogen sulfide levels last night? It dropped a lot."
Prather went on to say the hydrogen sulfide levels dropped to the hundreds, based on the readings from her experiment.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hydrogen sulfide at low levels can cause headaches, poor memory, tiredness, irritation to the eyes, throat and nose, and more.
Other local leaders were a part of the announcement Thursday, because they made promises to work on getting a state of emergency declaration issued in the South Bay.
A crowd of locals from the South Bay also showed up Thursday to hear what was being done about the Tijuana Sewage Crisis.
Barton Partlow, founder of the advocacy group Stop The Poop, has been raising awareness on the Tijuana Sewage crisis for seven years. Partlow has stated in previous interviews that he knew there were dangerous toxins, like hydrogen sulfide, in the waters and in the air.
"If we have it this bad, just imagine how bad they have it on that side of the border. It breaks my heart," Partlow said.
"This has to stop. I have to wear a mask. I have to go stay at my daughters house, and Airbnb just to get away from this," Victoria Urtasun, a long-time resident in the South Bay said. "I pay my taxes, and yet, I'm not taken care of. Where does my money go?"
With confusion setting in this week because of mixed messages from local leaders and scientists on whether or not the air in the South Bay is safe to breath, Prather and Granados said they cannot give an answer yet.
Granados said they plan to release surveys in the coming weeks, and will be gathering data for the next year from those surveys.
Granados said they will especially need medical and hospitalization records to determine whether the air quality is unsafe for breathing.
