EXCLUSIVE: Mexico’s Sewage Is Making America’s Future Navy SEALs Sick

Navy SEAL candidates are routinely getting severely ill from raw sewage-contaminated water flowing from Mexico to San Diego, sources tell the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The decades-long Tijuana River sewage crisis has exposed America’s elite warfighters to dangerous contamination from toxic waste, raising questions about military readiness, border security and military bureaucracy. As sewage infrastructure south of the border struggles to accommodate population growth from unfettered migration, untreated wastewater continues to flow into American waters where Navy SEAL candidates train, according to retired SEALS, family members of SEAL candidates and multiple government agencies.

“It’s a national security issue. It’s disgusting. It’s an abomination,” retired Navy SEAL Robert Sweetman told the DCNF.

Exposure to water contaminated by the Tijuana River can result in Hepatitis A and E, parasites, norovirus, gastroenteritis, salmonella, ear and skin infections, and many other ailments, according to a report from the California Regional Quality Control Board.

SEAL candidates spend hours per day in the water during Hell Week, per Navy Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM). During this time, they are swimming, diving and undergoing other conditioning, leading to contaminated water in their mouths, nose, ears, eyes and any open cuts.

The Department of War Inspector General and NAVSPECWARCOM did not reply to a request for comment.

‘My Blood Came Back Toxic’

The Tijuana River originates in Mexico, crosses into California and empties into the Pacific Ocean just south of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, where thousands of special operations personnel train each year. Approximately 50 million gallons of this waste are dumped into the river each day, subsequently flowing to the coast of San Diego, according to the California State Lands Commission. The untreated sewage can also emit an airborne pathogen called hydrogen sulfide, according to San Diego County Air Pollution Control District.

“Between 2010 and 2024, the official census population for Tijuana increased from approximately 1.2M to 2.3M people. However, the unofficial population growth rate is widely acknowledged to be significantly higher due to massive waves of uncounted transient migrants, asylum seekers, and informal settlements. The vast majority of the population growth in Tijuana can be tied to migration from within Mexico and from outside of Mexico, including Central America, Haiti, Venezuela, and other regions,” an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official told the DCNF.

This has contaminated ocean water, leading one San Diego beach to be closed for over 1,000 consecutive days, per Surfline, a forecasting program documenting waves and water quality at beaches worldwide.

The contaminated water has directly impacted the Navy Special Warfare community.

“I went from never failing anything in the first class to not being able to pass anything in my second class,” Jeff Gum, a retired Navy SEAL who contracted Rhabdo during BUD/s training, told DCNF. “[T]hat’s when one of the doctors was like maybe it’s Rhabdo, and they did blood labs on me, and my blood came back toxic.”

“Seal training is hard enough without having to do it, you know, with VGE Rhabdo and everything else that can happen … there’s probably countless guys who have not made it through seal training because they got extremely sick,” he said.

Rhabdo is a condition that leads to massive muscle breakdown and ultimately muscle death. As muscles die, toxic components of muscle fibers enter the bloodstream and kidneys. This can lead to kidney failure or death, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Gum’s case is not an isolated incident.

The issue is pervasive, a family member of a sailor currently in BUD/s, remaining anonymous out of fear of potential retribution told the DCNF.

“He told me about how disgusting the water is, raw sewage floating by as they endure their swims and beach training. He also told me how candidates are being treated for MRSA infections and stomach issues, causing them to seek medical attention and potentially be medically rolled back,” she said, citing conversations with her family member.

Some candidates are also contracting Hepatitis A, she noted, adding, “of course the connection is the contaminated water.”

Hepatitis A can be contracted from contaminated water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Illnesses can be contracted from swallowing the water. However, minor wounds synonymous with military training can make an individual more vulnerable.

“While water can enter the mouth, we have control of that. Cuts, blisters, and other open wounds would give pathogens direct access to our bloodstream”, a former San Diego beach lifeguard turned healthcare worker told DCNF.

The polluted water can travel up to 22 miles up the coast and particles can escape into the atmosphere, becoming airborne, according to a University of California Riverside study published in Scientific Reports.

“It was already known that compounds from this waste could enter the air, but we didn’t realize until now how far it could travel underwater before emerging.” study lead Karolina Cysneiros de Carvalho said in the UC Riverside press release.

An apparent lack of accountability from the Mexican government is a major contributor to the crisis.

“There was no progress,” Sweetman said regarding a December 2025 discussion between the United States and Mexico.

During this discussion, Mexico agreed to conduct studies and analysis, according to the EPA. Mexico has also agreed to construct another wastewater treatment plant by the end of 2028, but it’s not clear if construction on the plant has begun.

Ambassador Roberto Lazerri visited a South San Diego water treatment facility to review progress in solving the crisis, the Mexican Embassy told the DCNF.

The embassy additionally provided the DCNF with a Sept. 30 quarterly EPA report stating that the United States and Mexico cleared 16,622 feet of the river.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin met with Secretary of the Environment and National Resources of Mexico Alicia Bárcena Ibarra in Mexico City in July 2025. Following that meeting, both parties signed Minute of Understanding 333 in December 2025.

“The U.S.-Mexico 2025 MOU and Minute 333 provide a comprehensive solution to the Tijuana sewage crisis by building wastewater infrastructure to meet current wastewater demands and account for future population growth through 2050 and beyond,” an EPA spokesperson told the DCNF.

“Permanently ending the Tijuana River sewage crisis has been a top Trump Administration priority since day one. We’ve been working at a relentless pace to bring relief to the people of San Diego, who for decades have been inundated with sewage from Mexico via the Tijuana River Channel and the coast,” the spokesperson said.

The U.S International Boundary and Water Commission is responsible for enforcing agreements between America and Mexico regarding the Tijuana River. However, there is no system for enforcing whether or not the countries abide by their agreements.

“We just got to put pressure on them the same way whether we use trade or whatever to get them to do it,” Gum added. “Countries like this only understand strength.”

The Department of War Inspector General published a report on Feb. 7, 2025, suggesting that training for SEALs be relocated, rescheduled, or canceled when water quality dips below state safety standards.

“From February 2024 through September 2024, we found that the amount of enterococcus bacteria in the water exceeded state safety levels in 76 % of tests conducted on samples retrieved from the beach north of NAB Coronado and 75% conducted on samples retrieved from the beach south of NAB Coronado,” the Inspector General reported.

Per the Inspector General’s findings, training would need to be relocated, cancelled, or rescheduled.

“However, NAVSPECWARCOM only relocated 12 of 265 Navy SEAL candidate water training events (5 percent)”, despite there being closure advisories due to the water quality, the report reveals. “Consequently, Navy SEAL candidates were exposed to contaminated water during these three ocean exercises.”

Due to the demanding nature of Navy Special Warfare, holding off on training if the water is contaminated in an area where the water is consistently contaminated is not feasible, thus candidates have continued to train in dirty water.

“Naval Special Warfare (NSW) will have a challenge canceling or relocating 75 percent of their water training activities. Practically speaking, NSW operators would require systems or protocols that would enable them to both train and operate while managing preventable risk,” Vice Adm. John Vincent Fuller wrote back to the Inspector General.

The Biden-era border crisis has been a driving factor in Tijuana’s population growth, subsequently leading to more sewage being dumped into the river that ultimately ends up off the coast of San Diego.

“Some people would say that it’s always been this bad, but it would be reasonable to say that with Biden’s sort of open border policy that a lot of people from all the way from El Salvador to Haiti or whatever have come up,” Sweetman claimed. “And even the ones that can’t get through, I’ve got friends in Tijuana, like they bounce off the border and they stay in Tijuana. And then this causes more housing crisis, more waste crisis.”

Aside from an increase in sewage being dumped, the current infrastructure is unable to support its growing population.

“I know the sewage treatment plant was built for a much smaller amount of people and Tijuana has grown and you haven’t upgraded it at all,” Gum told the DCNF.

The wastewater treatment system was developed when Tijuana’s metropolitan population was approximately one million people, but the region has since grown to roughly 2.3 million in 2025, placing additional pressure on aging sewage infrastructure, according to the San Diego Coast Keeper, a local environmental nonprofit.

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