Human Impacts

Uploaded above is a video I took on my visit to the Tijuana River Valley that depicts the main human impact on the River and surrounding areas: trash. Every year tons of trash flow through the river into the valley. A recent trash clean-up sponsored by WiLDCOAST (an environmental organization taking strides to work on the contamination of the river) found 153 tires in the river. The contamination of the river has consequences for the surrouding environment. Whenever it rains, this trash filled contaminated water is rushed into the Pacific Ocean causing beach closures in San Diego, threatening human health with infections from viral or bacteria including Hepatitis A. The river only needs a quarter of an inch of rainfall to begin the flow into the ocean. (http://www.wildcoast.net/programs/3-u-s-mex-border-coastal   http://www.wildcoast.net/programs/3-u-s-mex-border-coastal)

The trash found in this area is also harmful to the animals within this ecosystem. Many birds and other animals who call the valley their home mistake the trash for food and harm themselves. As a result of the contaminated water flowing into the ocean many marine animals suffer from the contamination, such as fish, which are later eaten by bigger animals on the food chain including humans. These animals are being affected by the toxic industrial fluids and concentrations of metal in the water and are hazardous to consume.

As mentioned previously, the surround protected lands are being destroyed and threatened by the flow of trash and contaminated water. The sediment that is carried by storm water has destroyed 40 acres of salt marsh within the Tijuana Estuary (http://www.wildcoast.net/content/programs/3/factsheet/ISSUE_BRIEFING_final.pdf?1281048425). Because these areas are contaminated and dangerous many parts of the protected lands have been closed and are no longer accessible to pedestrians, one example being Friendship Park where people from both sides of the border were able to communicate to one another, captured here:

http://trnerr.org/?page_id=34

The health impacts because of human litter in the river affect both sides of the border. Not only are beaches closed on the US side of the border because of water contamination but on the Mexico side many people in Tijuana are not aware of the health risks and use the river water.