Before there was such a thing as extreme sports, swimming in the waters off Imperial Beaeh counted among the riskier forms of recreation. For years, high bacteria counts in the stretch of ocean north of the mouth of the Tijuana River forced entire sections of the city's beaches to be closed for months on end. To swim even when the beach was open meant exposure to a host of maladies ranging from earaches to pink eye to skin infections, remembers Imperial Beach City Councilwoman Mayda Winter. In 1999, the situation improved with the opening of a new international wastewater treatment plant on the U.S.-Mexico border. The plant relieved an overtaxed sewage system in Tijuana, channeling treated sewage six kilometers (3.5 miles) out to sea through an outfall pipe.
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