The U.S. and Mexico have signed a breakthrough agreement aimed at addressing the 50 million gallons of sewage flowing every day from Mexico into Southern California via the Tijuana River, The New York Times reported. 

The memorandum of understanding included commitments by Mexico to spend $93 million on infrastructure to address the sewage issue. In return, the U.S. agreed to unlock funds and commence delayed water projects at the border, including work to repair a dilapidated pump. 

For years, millions of gallons of raw sewage, industrial chemicals, and other hazardous materials have been dumped untreated into the Tijuana River, where they flow across the border into San Diego County and the Pacific Ocean, The New York Times reported in May.

While the issue dates back at least a century, the problem has grown much worse in recent years, as the population of Tijuana has exploded. Meanwhile, essential infrastructure like sewage treatment plants have fallen into disrepair on both sides of the border, the Times report indicated.

Raw sewage contains harmful bacteria that can cause serious short-term and long-term health problems, ranging from gastroenteritis (stomach flu) to hepatitis A to typhoid fever, according to the Indiana Department of Health. 

Officials in Southern California have detected a slew of harmful contaminants in the water there, including "arsenic, heavy metals, hepatitis, E. coli, salmonella, banned pesticides such as DDT, and more," per the May article in The New York Times. 

In a report examining the impacts of San Diego County's polluted waters on military readiness, the Department of Defense noted that "the effects of exposure to contaminated water may be evident immediately or may be delayed by several years."  

The contamination has hit the city of Imperial Beach in San Diego County especially hard. 

Once a thriving beach community full of tourists and surfers, Imperial Beach saw its shoreline closed for 1,200 consecutive days due to the unsafe conditions, according to the May report from The New York Times. 

"It's a public health ticking time bomb that isn't being taken seriously," Paloma Aguirre, the mayor of Imperial Beach said at the time, per the Times. "We need help." 

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With the new agreement calling on the Mexican infrastructure projects to be completed by December 2027, relief hopefully will be on the way. 

And not a moment too soon. 

The report by the Defense Department's Inspector General found that, from January 2019 through May 2023, military medical personnel diagnosed 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illness among Navy SEAL and Special Warfare Combat Crewman candidates training in the area.

The report determined that the military had ignored public-health warnings and proceeded with ocean-based training exercises even when local authorities had identified dangerous levels of contamination in the waters. 

The situation has grown so serious that the pollution could impact the military's training mission in the area, the report concluded. 

The signed agreement between the U.S. and Mexico "marks a significant step forward," Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, wrote on X, per The New York Times. "Our beaches must be clean, safe, and open year-round – anything less is unacceptable," he continued.

As for local residents, their requests have remained simple and straightforward. 

"We want to be able to survive," said Jesse Ramirez, who has owned a surf and skate shop in Imperial Beach for 30 years, according to the Times' May report.

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