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The County of San Francisco, in partnership with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, continued their weekly monitoring program for ocean and bay shoreline locations. The monitoring program is funded in part through an Environmental Protection Agency BEACH grant program. The County monitored 14 locations on a weekly basis year-round, from Aquatic Park Beach Hyde Street Pier to Ocean Beach at Sloat Blvd., and sites at Candlestick Point.
For additional water quality information visit the San
Francisco County Department of Environmental Health website.
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| Crissy Field Beach with the city of San Francisco in the background. Photo: Heal the Bay |
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| Baker Beach. Copyright © 2005 Kenneth & Gabrielle Adelman. All rights reserved, California Coastal Records Project. |
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San Francisco exhibited excellent water quality during the AB411 time period. All beaches received A grades, including Baker Beach at Lobos Creek, improved from an F grade for the same time period the year previous. Year round dry weather water quality at San Francisco beaches this past year was also excellent. Thirteen of the 14 locations received A grades (see Figures 32 and 33). The only location with fair (C grade) dry weather water quality was Crissy Field Beach East.
Wet weather water quality at San Francisco monitoring sites was fair (Figures 32 and 33). Eleven of the 14 locations received A and B grades for wet weather (79%) and 3 locations (21%) received fair-to-poor marks. It should be noted that this improvement in wet weather water quality in San Francisco was most likely due to the limited rainfall this past year (12 inches less than the previous year) and the resulting lower number of combined sewer overflows in the county.
Sewage
Spill Summary
Combined sewer discharges are legally allowed only as the result of rainfall and therefore occur only during wet weather months (see Background Information). There were a total of three permitted combined sewer discharge events between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007 that resulted in portions of San Francisco beaches being posted (not every discharge affected every beach). This was 12 fewer than during the same period last year. Two of the discharges (one due to power failure) took place in December, a month in which there was 4.65 inches of rain. In addition to permitted discharges, San Francisco experienced an unpermitted spill from their combined system during a heavy rain event on the evening of November 13, 2006. The spill, which resulted in the northern portion of Ocean Beach being closed for one day, was contained on the beach by a natural berm and did not reach the surf zone.
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