San Diego lifeguards patrol beaches from nine permanent lifeguard stations (Ocean Beach, South Mission Beach, Mission Beach, North Pacific Beach, Pacific. Ocean Beach · Mission Bay Beaches · Black's Beach · Beach Photo Gallery. Coronado and Imperial Beach have been closed for weeks, and the closure is likely to continue for months. New San Diego County Water Tests Could Cause More South Bay Beaches to Close This Summer Due to Harmful Contaminants in Water.
The picturesque coastal community of Coronado and the working class of Imperial Beach could be on track for a major reckoning with wastewater continuing to spill over the border from Tijuana. Beach closures, once largely considered a winter event, now appear to be on the verge of becoming a year-round phenomenon in San Diego's South Bay. However, that's not because transboundary pollution from Baja California's overloaded and crumbling wastewater system has increased dramatically, county officials say. It's because the ocean is more polluted than previously thought.
An avalanche of recently closed shorelines followed the May 5 implementation of a new DNA-based water quality testing system, nearly a decade after creation. Coronado beaches have been closed for 17 days since new tests began early last month. The south shore of Imperial Beach, which has historically suffered much greater impacts from wastewater pollution, was immediately closed and has not yet been reopened. Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey questioned whether the tests really indicated a new understanding of sea conditions.
Dedina and others expressed concern that the closures could have a widespread economic and social impact, potentially shutting down programs such as youth first responders and YMCA surf camps and interfering with Navy training operations. Naval Special Warfare Command, whose base is located on the south end of Coronado and is the training home of the San Diego Navy SEALs, did not return requests for comment. The closures are necessary to protect bathers from dangerously high levels of bacteria and viruses, according to county public health officials. Swimmers who ignore the restrictions could be at risk for diarrhea, fever, respiratory diseases, meningitis and even paralysis.
San Diego is the first coastal county in the nation to institute a federally approved water quality testing system that uses DNA technology, officials said. Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Public Health, and UC San Diego researchers. For years, environmental regulators thought that wastewater spilling over the border with Mexico was largely the result of heavy winter rains that dragged runoff and contaminated wastewater across the Tijuana River channel into the Imperial Beach estuary. However, recent studies by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD and Stanford University have identified a missing wastewater facility in Tijuana as a major source of pollution.
The San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant in Punta Bandera is estimated to dump up to 35 million gallons of untreated wastewater per day into the Pacific Ocean. When ocean currents move northward, known as “southern swells,” they can carry plumes of faeces and other pollution north to Coronado. These conditions prevail in spring and summer, health officials say. Editor Andrew Dyer contributed to this report.
Get top Union-Tribune headlines in your inbox Monday through Friday mornings, including top news, local, sports, business, entertainment and opinion. Occasionally you may receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune. Its goal is to advance the County's goals of combating climate change and reducing waste. Storms sometimes flood streets north of Mission, near the beach, but the Coastal Commission has concerns about the city's drainage plan.
Newsom wants to keep California's last nuclear plant open for a few more years, but opponents say it should be shut down as scheduled. Brian Olney takes over the Helix Water District at a time of historic drought Samples collected by Surfrider, an environmental group, were evaluated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The third sign is a shutdown, which will take effect if there is wastewater in the water, and will close the beach. Bailey condemned the sudden shutdowns in local news, telling Voice of San Diego that he got to the point where he told the county he would personally tear off the sand shutdown signs.
San Diego County closed several miles of beach from the border to Coronado for several days in the past month, or since it began using a new test to determine if the Pacific Ocean is too polluted for swimmers. While Imperial Beach, located closer to the border, may face year-round closures due to pollution, Coronado beaches rarely do so in summer. Despite San Diego Beaches Failing to Pass Water Quality Tests After Public Health Officials Deploy New, More Sensitive Testing Technology, San Diego County Leaves Them Open. Vargas believes that yes, there is a lot of misinformation about the beaches in the south of the county and whether they are polluted or not.
Coronado and Imperial Beach beaches closed on the morning of June 29 when water quality tests once again showed that bacteria levels exceeded state health standards. Bailey said he wants the County Board of Supervisors to order the public health department to continue testing beach water in the previous way, under the test that is less sensitive, but which historically had rarely issued beach notices or closures in Coronado in the summer. Coronado beaches closed four more times in the following weeks, alarming elected leaders there as the city faced the prospect of closed beaches over the holiday weekend. Coronado Mayor Bailey Finds Like His Amity Counterpart Larry Vaughn In Jaws, Ignoring Or Disputing Expert Findings, Anything To Keep Those Beaches Open To Keep The Money Flowing.
But if the new tests are detecting the same conditions that always exist during the summer, when people normally enjoy the beach without negative health consequences, the beaches should be open, Bailey said in a statement late Tuesday. Test results showed dangerously high levels of bacteria and viruses, forcing the closure of South San Diego beaches, from Imperial Beach to Coronado, home to one of America's most popular coastal resorts and training station for U. .
Leave Message