The California General Elections are approaching, and San Diego’s 78th Assembly District Member seat is on the ballot. As San Diegans prepare to vote, Democratic incumbent Chris Ward hopes to win again.

With the new census, Ward would represent inland educational institutions like San Diego State University for the first time while no longer representing University of California San Diego if reelected after the 78th District boundaries shifted east away from the coast.

Assembly Member Ward recently sat down and spoke with SD News about his previous work to temper climate change and environmental issues as well as what he plans if reelected. One of the environmental issues he is most concerned with is the raw sewage leaking into the Tijuana River Valley and contaminating San Diego beaches.

“​​It’s a mix of both federal state and local and nonprofit bodies that all have a role to play in the solutions that are needed there,” Ward explained, “the federal investments that came last year have been helping meaningfully with some, modest fixes that can actually capture a lot of the debris making its way over.”

The federal government and Mexican government have committed to a joint $474 million project to fix the sewage treatment plant in Tijuana and clean up the U.S. side of the border damaged by the sewage.

While this joint international project will be finished down the road, the state of California allocated $20 million this year to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). In the meantime, the SWRCB is in charge of smaller projects, such as filtering sewage that flows into small canyons where there is hardly any infrastructure to stop the sewage from leaking into the estuary and river on the U.S. side of the border.

Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on Sept. 30 that would have allocated an additional $100 million to fixing the issue.

“I had asked for another $100 million. We were able to secure $20 million for both the Tijuana River and the New River, which is out in Imperial County and also has a lot of environmental issues.” Ward said, “And again, we’re [state government] trying to do a lot of these short term, more immediate and modest projects, while the federal government with our international partners figure out how actually to execute the big, big part on climate change.”

The part of San Diego most damaged by the sewage is Imperial Beach. Although IB will be in District 80 next year, Ward will still be involved in the issue of Tijuana River Valley contamination if elected.

“Part of what I’m hopeful with if we can extend my term is the design and purpose of the work we’re doing here on the bigger facility. It is going to be able to have a water reclamation component, just like we’re doing here in the city of San Diego, so they can actually recapture the water and be able to actually turn that back into potable drinking water,” Ward said.

The incumbent Assembly Member is running for another two-year term in the California State Assembly against Republican Eric Gonzales.

The November 8 California General Election Ballot also includes statewide candidates for U.S. Senate and Governor, Secretary of State, U.S. Representative in Congress, State Senator, State Assembly Members, as well as other local candidates and local measures. Voting registration ends October 24th.

To learn more about voter registration and the California state ballot, follow this link.

To learn more about Chris Ward and his campaign, follow this link.