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The County of San Mateo Environmental Health Department monitored 19 beach locations on a weekly basis year-round, from as far upcoast as Sharp Park Beach in Pacifica to a downcoast location of Gazos Beach at Gazos Creek. The Health Department utilizes volunteers from the local Surfrider Foundation chapter to assist in the collection of water samples. Samples are collected at a distance of 25 yards north or south of the mouth of a storm drain or creek. For additional water
quality information visit the San
Mateo County Department of Environmental
Health website.
This past year, San Mateo beaches showed good summer dry weather water quality (Figures 13 and 14). Sixteen (84%) of the 19 beach monitoring locations
received A grades. Three locations stood out from
the rest with very poor dry weather water quality: Pillar
Point Harbor at Westpoint Avenue (D), Pillar Point
Harbor at Capistrano Ave. (F), and Venice Beach at
Frenchman's Creek (D). This is the second year that Pillar Point Harbor at Capistrano Beach has made it onto the 'Beach Bummer' list. As for Frenchman's Creek, the County has completed an upstream source identification monitoring program to determine potential sources that may be causing downstream exceedances at Venice Beach. The County was able to identify a source along Frenchman's Creek, which was a landowner storing a large amount of manure adjacent to the creek. The source was abated; however, water quality problems continue to persist. Once again, Venice Beach's water quality was relatively good for the majority of the summer months, but recorded sharp increases in bacteria counts in mid-to-late September and into October. These late exceedances brought the grade down significantly.
Sewage
Spill Summary
There were five reported sewage spills in San Mateo
County that led to beach closures this past year. All but
one of the spills took place during the winter months, a
time period of excessive rains that caused spills in the
conveyance lines due to large amounts of rainwater infiltration.
Two of the five spills were located in Pacifica,
one at Pacifica State Beach and another about two miles
downcoast at a beach adjacent to Esplanade Road. The
other three took place at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve,
Surfers Beach near the southern Pillar Point break
water, and in Half Moon Bay adjacent to Mirada Rd.
(near Miramar Beach Restaurant and Bar). Estimates of
the volume spilled for each incidence ranged between
10,000 to 50,000 gallons.
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