What oxygen levels in the Tijuana River estuary tell us about the impacts of the sewage crisis
… The estuary at the southern edge of California, which borders Mexico, has been too polluted with untreated wastewater and sedimentation spilling over from Tijuana. … But then, something unexpected happened. They found an opaleye inside one of the traps. That was an exciting moment for researchers at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve who have been monitoring the estuary’s health for years and are part of multi-agency efforts to restore the coastal wetland. “Opaleyes are more marine fish,” said [Researcher Jeff Crooks]. “So, this is showing that the species is coming in and using it as a nursery. ”There’s a connection, he added, between the small fish’s presence and the Reserve’s new preliminary findings about alarming dissolved oxygen levels in the water. Dissolved oxygen is the amount of oxygen present in water. The higher it is, the better the water quality and the more oxygen available for fish and other aquatic organisms.
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