Ursula Pla

Today I met with Senator Alex Padilla's staff about our ongoing air quality measurements in South Bay San Diego. It was one of the most productive conversations we've had on this crisis. Here is why I'm hopeful. For two years my group has run continuous measurements of hydrogen sulfide and other toxic gases along the Tijuana River and coastal San Diego — as far as I know, the longest continuous record of its kind anywhere. Two years of nights when families in Imperial Beach, Coronado, Nestor, and San Ysidro couldn't open their windows. Two years of headaches, lost sleep, and children kept inside at school. After staying up most of the night working through that record alongside river flow data, the picture is clear: this is driven by flow. The water isn't just carrying pollution past these communities — turbulence as it moves through the channel strips toxic gases out of the water and into the air people are breathing. How much water goes where, and when, largely determines what South Bay and our Navy Seals and their families breathe at night. That matters, because a problem you understand is a problem you can act on. Instead of pointing at "sewage" in general, we can now point to the specific conditions that produce the worst air, and to change that will reduce it. That is what we brought to Senator Padilla's office, and we now have a real plan. More to come soon. None of this happened just because scientists showed up. It happened because this community refused to stop saying something was wrong, long before anyone measured it. Our job was to put data behind voices. I am more optimistic than I have ever been on this topic.