South Bay residents now have a one-stop way to check just how bad things are getting around the Tijuana River before they head out the door. San Diego County is again promoting its "Tijuana River Valley Sewage Crisis Environmental Dashboard," a live tool that tracks beach water quality, hydrogen sulfide levels, odor complaints and reported wastewater flows.
The county’s Health and Human Services Agency resurfaced the dashboard on X today, pitching it as a quick way for South Bay residents to see real-time environmental conditions. The tool pulls together readings from multiple monitors and incident logs so people can check air and water quality before heading outside.
Get real time impacts of the Tijuana River Valley Sewage Crisis. The Environmental Dashboard gives you information about the quality of the beach water, the levels of hydrogen sulfide in the area, smell complaints and wastewater flows. https://t.co/VYhhrCNv3a pic.twitter.com/ZFBlPN52tC
— SD HHSA (@SDCountyHHSA) February 12, 2026
The dashboard was built with technical support from UC San Diego’s Resilient Shield team and first went live last spring, according to reporting by the County News Center. County officials describe it as a digital clearinghouse that turns scattered data streams into something regular people and local agencies can actually use.
What the Dashboard Shows
The dashboard combines several data layers on a single screen: a beach-status map based on county water testing, a live hydrogen sulfide feed from the San Diego Air Pollution Control District’s community monitors, a public complaints map and a timeline of reported wastewater spills and flows. It lists current hydrogen sulfide readings from monitors in Nestor, Imperial Beach and San Ysidro and highlights beaches that have been closed recently because of contamination, according to the Tijuana River Valley Dashboard.
Users can also follow binational wastewater flow data that feed into the beach map. Those reports draw on information from the U.S. IBWC, which tracks activity at wastewater treatment plants along the border.
Air Quality and Health Guidance
Hydrogen sulfide, the rotten egg smelling gas tied to sewage decomposition, is tracked hourly on the dashboard. The readings are interpreted using the air district’s color-coded community guidance system, which uses green, yellow and orange thresholds to suggest when residents should change their behavior.
The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District’s hydrogen sulfide monitoring page lays out when people should limit outdoor activity, keep windows shut and rely on air purifiers. The dashboard links directly to that guidance for context, according to SDAPCD. Local reporting and health researchers have documented repeated hydrogen sulfide detections near the river, and they note that symptoms such as headaches and nausea are common when levels spike.
Why It Matters Locally
South Bay beaches have been closed again and again because of bacterial contamination traced to the Tijuana River, and residents along with public health officials say having everything on a single dashboard makes it easier to spot patterns and immediate risks. KPBS and county officials report that daily beach testing and overnight hydrogen sulfide monitoring are interim steps while longer term binational infrastructure upgrades move forward.
Federal and international efforts to repair pipelines and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant are underway, and those projects are intended to cut down on raw sewage flows into the river over time, according to the U.S. IBWC.
County officials say the dashboard is meant to be a practical tool for people who live and work in the South Bay and a way to help agencies respond more quickly as conditions change. The dashboard is available online and was spotlighted again by the county on Feb. 12, 2026. During strong odor events, the county advises residents to follow hydrogen sulfide safety guidance from SDAPCD.
