A number of advisories and closures are in effect for beaches in San Diego, Calif., this week due to high bacteria levels, according to the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health & Quality.
These include closures at the Tijuana Slough Shoreline, the Silver Strand Shoreline and the Imperial Beach Shoreline as well as advisories issued for other beaches this month. The Silver Stand closure began this May, the Imperial Beach closure was put in to place last December and the Tijuana Slough closure has been in place for years – since December 2021.
According to the University of San Diego, “beach and coastal health worsened in 2022,” and “closures caused by impacts from the Tijuana River increased from 619 beach mile days in 2021 to 722 beach mile days in 2022.”
“The Tijuana River runs along the border between the United States and Mexico,” the university explained. “Originating in Mexico, the river flows to the Pacific Ocean on the southern edge of San Diego County. Water treatment facilities along the river are often overrun with sewage and trash which ends up in the ocean and significantly impacts the quality of the water and air along the Southern California coast.”
Excluding impacts from the Tijuana River, closures increased from 30 beach mile days in 2021 to 474 beach mile days in 2022. That’s a 1,480% increase. In 2022, San Diego County became the first coastal county in the United States to adopt a DNA-based water quality testing technique called droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR). Through this testing system, the county found that its beaches don’t always meet state standards to be open.
Those state standards are based on indicator bacteria that suggest the presence of fecal matter and other pathogens in the water. Along with the testing program, San Diego County alerts people in the area about bacteria levels in the water.
“In addition to beach closures impacted by coastal water quality, the San Diego coastline is facing a suite of climate impacts such as increased flooding events, sea level rise and coastal erosion as well as potential threats and changes to the region’s coastal ecosystems,” said the University of San Diego.
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