By Eric Heinz
Since the summer, the city of San Clemente has been trying to identify the reasons as to why the bacterial levels at the Pier have exceeded the health standards set by the County of Orange’s Heath Care Agency.
“In June 2016, the City Public Works Department started a water quality investigation at the Pier to have a stronger understanding of the reasons behind the summer beach postings issued by the County (OC Beach Info),” Cynthia Mallett, the city’s environmental programs supervisor, stated in an email. “Water quality issues have been occurring during sunny, dry and warm beach days, which means that the Pier’s bacteria problems are not coming from rainwater washing down the watershed.”
City officials are trying to determine whether the bacteria is coming from human sources or from domesticated animals or any other source such as from droppings from seagulls.
“We have some data from the county’s microbial bacteria study, and we’re trying to determine the source of the bacteria,” Mallett said in a phone interview, adding the city is looking into “bird barrier” options to prevent or deter seagulls from nesting underneath the Pier.
Larry Brennler, the supervising environmental health specialist for the county’s Water Quality Program, said the samples are checked for certain amounts of coliform and enterococcus, an indicator of possible pollution from various areas.
“They are called indicator bacteria because they are relatively easy to collect and analyze, and may show the presence of harmful viruses, bacteria or protozoa (also known as pathogens),” Brennler said in an email.
The Health Care Agency has been tracking water runoff quality at the Pier since mid-2014, and since then, the San Clemente Pier spot has seen an increase in days that exceed the county’s standard of acceptable bacteria.
Mallett said information from the county and the city’s examinations of the water quality will be presented to the Coastal Advisory Committee at the Feb. 9 meeting. Brennler said the San Clemente Marine Safety Department already prohibits swimming below the Pier for safety issues, but swimmers should avoid ocean water contact in any area where bacteria levels have exceeded state health standards. Mallett also said the city’s Code Enforcement officers patrol the Pier Bowl watershed to look for urban runoff and coordinates with the Public Works Department to try to limit the runoff.
one of my favorite walks was down the canyon at tee street where ive seen people throwing their dog doo over the fence into the canyon
I would like to know how the hundreds of Dogs pooing on the trail a week impacts our beach’s health. The whole trail reeks of dog feces and after it rains it quantifies. I can’t see how this couldn’t affect the bacterial levels. Even picking up after a dog leaves traces of bacteria, and then there is the urine which all seems harmless until you think of how the numbers compound. Take into consideration a lack of rain or the affects of a hard rain after a lack of rain, each scenario would present a different impact, none of which can be good. Look to the Federal Parks who restrict this kind of use by dogs because it is proven to cause harmful health effects on humans and native animals. I know we all love the pooches but the numbers involved spell a recipe for disaster. Is anyone doing solid testing along the trail. Seems obvious to me that the numbers would show a spike relative to the opening on the trail and it’s use increasing. I think it is high time this is taken seriously.
I am curious to see what the root cause of this turns out to be. I fear it could be a buried sewage line that has been compromised.
How about we get all the filth, trash, poop and hazardous materials left by transients out of our canyons?
To those that like to annonymously leave off topic soapbox comments …. try showing up solutions and your real names if you want to be taken seriously.
Do or do not there is no try.
Also our canyons look like the city dump and all that filth washes right into the ocean.
Thanks for confirming my point.