Tijuana’s Los Laureles Canyon, on the highway to Playas de Tijuana, is the kind of place where stereotypes about impoverished colonias on the U.S.-Mexico border ring true. More than 50,000 people live crammed into a narrow canyon in everything from concrete houses to plywood shacks buttressed by old tires to stop mudslides. Illegal pig and dairy farms operate clandestinely in offshoots of the canyon. Even for us, with decades working in Tijuana’s most remote and dangerous neighborhoods, there are certain parts of Los Laureles that due to security concerns, are off limits. Sewage, trash, waste tires (many that originate from California) and toxic waste flow down the concrete storm drain in the middle of Los Laureles into Border Field State Park on the U.S. side of the border. Over the years pollution from Los Laureles has been a major cause of pollution-related beach closures from Imperial Beach to Coronado. Uncollected refuse in the Tijuana River Valley is also a vector for disease, rats, and gases that contribute to climate change. CLICK TO LEARN MORE