Health officials reaching out to public as South Bay sewage fight continues

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (KGTV) — San Diego County Public Health staff and volunteers on Thursday plan go to door-to-door in a new effort to learn about health impacts of sewage in the South Bay.

They plan to give out flyers at 6,000 homes as part of an upcoming community health assessment led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The effort comes just a couple weeks after teams from San Diego State and UC San Diego collected samples in the area, looking for contamination in the water, soil, dust, and air.

At the time, an SDSU professor studying the area became sick and vomited twice while gathering data during a field study last month.

People who live in the area have said the smell is strongest at night. They cite symptoms like nausea, stomach cramps, and trouble sleeping.

However, there has been good news recently, as some residents indicated the smell was finally improving.

About a month ago, county health officials handed out hundreds of air purifiers in the South Bay. One resident told ABC 10News the purifier is helping improve his mother's health.

"She definitely has less complaints about the smell," said Cesar Rosales, who lives in the South Bay. "She's definitely had some issues with congestion and a lot of that is alleviated."

Follow the ABC 10News team as We Follow Through on the sewage in the South Bay and efforts to fight it.