SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — This past rainy season, a trash boom in the Tijuana River kept 500 tons of plastics, trash and other debris away from the Tijuana River Valley and the Pacific Ocean, far exceeding expectations.
On Tuesday morning, Oscar Romo, director of Alter Terra, the non-profit in charge of the boom, gave a tour of the area to members of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, one of the agencies that helped secure funding for the trash boom.
“It was decades in the making, something fantastic to celebrate for all the partners involved,” said Jennifer Hazard, director of Community Programs for RCAP, which has offices nationwide and is based in Washington, D.C.
Trash boom stops 500 tons of Mexican trash at the border
Before working with the agency, Hazard was involved in doing research in the Tijuana River Valley and in the city of Tijuana, where many illegal dump sites exist.
When it rains, a lot of trash from these sites washes down canyons and into the river, eventually flowing across the border…