Héroes del Río Tijuana
The Tijuana River does not stop at the border, and neither do the people fighting for it. These twelve scientists, organizers and public servants have spent years cleaning the watershed, measuring the harm and pushing governments on both sides to act.
Co-founder, Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental · Playas de Tijuana
An architect by training, Margarita led the Border Environmental Education Project for about three decades. She mobilized some 35,000 cleanup volunteers, trained more than 400 youth leaders and built a free weekly program that reports water quality at Tijuana's beaches. She stepped down from the organization in October 2025.
The founding voice of grassroots water advocacy in Tijuana.
Costa Salvaje (WILDCOAST México) · Tijuana
Fay is leading a privately funded cleanup of the Tijuana River channel this fall, pulling out discarded tires before El Niño storms can wash them toward the ocean. She argues the river must be tackled across the whole basin, with businesses, citizens and both governments at the table.
Getting crews into the channel while official plans are still being written.
Project Manager, Pronatura Noroeste · Tijuana
Liliana leads Tijuana Río Conecta, which is bringing a stretch of the river below Rodríguez Dam back to life with native plants. The project shows that the river can be a green corridor for the city, not just a concrete drainage channel.
Proving the river can be restored, one reach at a time.
Founder, Alter Terra · Tijuana and San Diego
Oscar has spent years in Los Laureles Canyon, a major source of the sediment and trash that pour into the Tijuana Estuary. Working with residents, he has used recycled materials and simple engineering to stabilize slopes and keep waste out of the water.
Solving the problem where it starts, in the neighborhoods upstream.
Director General, CESPT (Tijuana water utility)
Mónica runs the utility responsible for Tijuana's sewer system. Under her leadership CESPT has removed 4,000 cubic meters of silt from the river channel and is cleaning 22 sewer collectors and protecting 19 key facilities ahead of El Niño rains.
Keeping the pumps running on the side of the border where the fix begins.
San Diego County Supervisor, District 1 · former Mayor of Imperial Beach
A surfer and longtime coastal advocate, Paloma has made the sewage crisis the center of her public life, first as Imperial Beach mayor and since July 2025 as County Supervisor. She has pushed the county to own the problem, including a $5.8 million mitigation plan and a new CDC health assessment for South Bay residents.
Turning a beach town's fight into a county priority.
Atmospheric chemist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
Kim's research showed that the polluted river does not just foul the water. It sends hydrogen sulfide and other harmful pollutants into the air that South Bay families breathe. Her findings helped trigger federal health assessments of the Tijuana River Valley.
Proving the crisis is a public health emergency, not just a beach problem.
Professor of Environmental Engineering, San Diego State University
Natalie and her SDSU team built an early warning system that tracks sewage in the Tijuana River in near real time. The data helps agencies and residents know when contamination is rising.
Giving the region the data it needs to act fast.
Co-founder, WILDCOAST · former Mayor of Imperial Beach
Serge co-founded WILDCOAST, the binational conservation group, and served as mayor of Imperial Beach. For decades he has been one of the loudest voices demanding a permanent fix to border sewage, in Sacramento, Washington and Mexico City.
Decades of keeping the border sewage crisis in front of decision makers.
Coastal Training Program, Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve
For 16 years Kristen has worked to restore the Tijuana Estuary, one of Southern California's last large coastal wetlands. She connects wetland protection with public and mental health and is building a leadership network across the region.
Protecting the estuary at the river's end.
Un Mar de Colores · San Diego
Ramon brings young people from communities with little access to the ocean into surfing and coastal stewardship. He makes sure the families most affected by pollution have a voice with people in power.
Raising the next generation of river and ocean defenders.
President and Founder, Samuel Lawrence Foundation · Solana Beach
Bart founded the Samuel Lawrence Foundation, an environmental nonprofit that joins science, arts and education. Its flagship cause is the nuclear waste left at the shut down San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, stored on an earthquake prone stretch of coast just steps from the ocean. In August 2026 he brought scientists, advocates and Congressmen Mike Levin and Scott Peters together for the San Onofre Symposium at UC San Diego's Scripps Seaside Forum. On the Tijuana River, Bart is a tireless connector, linking reporters, elected leaders and advocates on both sides of the border so the sewage crisis stays in the news.
Guarding the Southern California coast from San Onofre to the border.
Fixing the river takes public money on both sides of the border. We thank the governments that have committed real funding to the cleanup.
President Claudia Sheinbaum · CONAGUA
Made the Tijuana River part of the first stage of Mexico's national river cleanup. About 3.4 billion pesos is going into eight sewer projects, 84% of it federal money.
Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila
Pays the remaining 16% of the federal sewer program and secured CONAGUA's help with a 150 million peso cleanup of the river channel ahead of El Niño.
Federal government
Expanding the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant from 35 to 50 million gallons a day, with the first construction contract awarded in September 2026, and funding Phase 2 of the river diversion gates.
Governor Gavin Newsom · State Water Board
Released $46 million in voter-approved Prop 4 funds for border pollution projects in June 2026.
Board of Supervisors
Approved a $5.8 million plan in September 2026 to tackle sewage hot spots in the Tijuana River Valley.
