$2.7M Allocated for Air Purifiers to Help South Bay Residents Deal with Sewage Emissions

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of obtaining thousands of air purifiers for South County residents affected by pollution, including an increase in odors.

The San Diego Air Pollution Control District will purchase and distribute the purifiers, Board Chair Nora Vargas’ office said.

Supervisors also authorized county Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the pollution control district.

Vargas described Tuesday’s vote as “a crucial next step in our ongoing fight against the pollution crisis affecting our families in South County.”

The agreement, Vargas said during Tuesday’s meeting, means residents in the city of Imperial Beach and Tijuana River Valley communities such as Nestor also can get purifiers.

According to Vargas’ office, the district has identified $2.7 million to purchase the devices. The California Air Resources Board will reimburse the money.

Along with distributing air purifiers, district officials will conduct public outreach “to provide timely and accurate updates on air quality and available resources,” according to Vargas’ office.

Vargas said the federal Environmental Protection Agency also supports the effort.

The district has an 11-member governing board that includes city and county elected leaders, including Vargas and fellow Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.

Recently, the county launched the Emergency Air Quality and Improvement Relief pilot program, and gave air purifiers to 414 households.

However, “many more households still need resources to combat the odor,” Vargas’ office said, adding that the goal is to distribute 10,000 air purifiers.

She added that the response by the county and other agencies are among several actions to ensure that residents “`not only breathe clean air, but are able to (have) clean beaches.”

As a pollution control district board member, Vargas in September proposed a motion to secure money for air purifiers, according to her office.

During public comments Tuesday, speakers said the purifiers are desperately needed.

Jack Shu, a La Mesa City Council member, said it ultimately doesn’t matter which public agency helps with improving South County air quality.

“Ultimately, we want to make sure the community is involved,” said Shu, who also serves on the pollution control district board.

A man who said he lives “less than a quarter-mile from the epicenter of all this toxic sludge,” called for the purifiers to be hospital grade and distributed in a more efficient manner.

“It’s absurd that it (has) taken this long to get air purifiers for residents,” he said – adding that he was at a birthday party of a friend’s son, and that the boy couldn’t blow out the candles on his cake due to poor air quality.

“You know how sad that is?” the man said.

In other developments regarding border pollution, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said Tuesday that she will pursue a federal Superfund designation for the Tijuana River Valley, bypassing her colleagues on the board.

The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to delay a formal decision on seeking the designation, with Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe in the minority.

Updated 8:20 p.m. Oct. 8, 2024