6 ms·

This also spills over (literally) into California - many of the beaches in San Diego are unswimmable due to contamination. (ref: Went to Coronado Island beach.

by zdw 3y ago

This also spills over (literally) into California - many of the beaches in San Diego are unswimmable due to contamination. (ref: Went to Coronado Island beach. Went in Water. Lifeguards chased me down and told me to wash off really well...)

kadoban 3y ago
Isn't this endemic in beaches throught the country? I grew up in NY and one summer job I had was testing beaches for bacteria levels. Most beaches were one rainy day away from being closed down, and they were certainly nowhere near Mexico.
- micromacrofoot 3y ago
  correct, many beaches in new england have been closed this year off and on due to heavy rainfall bringing bacteria from human waste
- gedy 3y ago
  TJ runoff is at much worse levels, don't have link handy though
- genocidicbunny 3y ago
  > Most beaches were one rainy day away from being closed down, and they were certainly nowhere near Mexico. I think this is the most salient point -- most beaches are probably fine most of the time, but when you get a big storm or some other event that causes a lot of runoff, the beaches quickly become health hazards. And it doesn't even need to be anything particularly nefarious, even just dumping a bunch of nutrients into the water will cause more things to grow, nasty things included. I've been to plenty of beaches where after a strong rain, they had signs out on the beach warning about potential sewage runoff, and to avoid swimming in the water.
  - gunapologist99 3y ago
    That's in tfa. The drainage pipes are discharging when there's been no rain at all (and there's not much rain in baja california)
  - quickthrower2 3y ago
    I never knew this until I Googled 'is it OK to surf in the rain?'. In the context of urban beaches. I think the answer was yes, as long as it wasn't the first rain after a dry period, because of runoff from streets etc.
    - genocidicbunny 3y ago
      It's not just the street runoff. You have to consider all the stuff in the water basin that is draining into the ocean closest to the beach. For example, many coastal communities might not have a sewer system, using septic tanks and leach fields instead. When it rains enough, some of the runoff gets into there (ever seen pictures of septic tanks improperly secured that pop out of the ground after a rain?) and then moves down to the ocean. Then you also have agricultural/animal runoff if there are farms or ranches in the basin, and potentially industrial runoff if there's any heavy industry in the area too. And even if you have none of these factors, just the simple influx of nutrients can cause things like algal blooms that can be just as bad.
- yawgmoth 3y ago
  Many lakes are regularly closed for bacteria, definitely. Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan far away from Chicago don't have this issue, but of course they are exceptional in volume.
- chasd00 3y ago
  that's crazy, i grew up in Daytona Beach FL until I was 12 and I don't recall anything like this. Ever. Maybe because it rains so much there the runoff is basically clean? Also, i've vacationed up and down the AL and TX coast and have never heard of a beach closed because of bacteria/pollution.
  - jccooper 3y ago
    Many older areas have no separate storm sewer system; rain goes into the regular sewers and significant rain will overload the treatment systems and lead to "bypass". Lots of these in the NE.
    - tptacek 3y ago
      The entire city of Chicago is like this.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  My impression around here (southern Ontario) is that when this happens (high e.coli counts after heavy rain) this is mostly due to runoff from farms and from seagull, goose etc feces, not human sewer overflows. Areas with high waterfowl populations are the worst for it.
m463 3y ago
You would love Acapulco, where everything drains into ocean
- hingadingadonga 3y ago
  Unfortunately this is a common thing in Mexico (and extremely likely other 3rd world countries) For example, in Puebla City there is a river (Atlixcayotl) that is literally where all the local industries and waterparks dump their "runoff" (let's be honest, poop and industrially-produced chemicals) Which is a shame that this happens (even in 1st world countries). So much taking from land that has been living and forming for millions of years (the dirt is alive) and we dump all the poop/industrially-produced chemicals into the rivers. Not to mention these rivers flow into oceans and the ocean currents do not respect any borders, the fish that are affected. The rivers that touch the soils that grow food (yes your meal was created from these soils) Sorry I just meant to make a quick comment and it spurred into an entire mini-rant lmao.
  - jeffbee 3y ago
    I'm not sure if it's really true about this being a Third World issue, leaving aside the fact that Mexico is a well-developed nation with a large economy and outside the technical Cold War definition that nobody uses, I am not sure you can label Mexico "Third World". But the reason I object is there are a large number of American cities that have combined sanitary and storm sewers, including ones that are ridiculously wealthy like San Francisco.
    - brewdad 3y ago
      Portland spent well over a billion dollars on the Big Pipe. It helped a lot but there are still sewer overflows a few times a year. Better than after every rain in a city that gets 9 months of rain a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Big_Pipe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Big_Pipe
    - marisnom 3y ago
      When you see the well developed parts of Mexico you could say that it isn't a third world country... But once you see the poorer parts that quickly changes. The poorest parts of Mexico are very poor, unfortunately a very unequal country. Not to mention the Mexican government is consistently ranked among the most corrupt in the world.
CameronNemo 3y ago
Yeah you have to go up to Pacific Beach / La Jolla and farther north to avoid the runoff from the Tijuana river. Of course during long dry spells it is not so bad, because there is basically no runoff. Imperial Beach is almost always dirty, though.

by zdw 3y ago

kadoban 3y ago

Isn't this endemic in beaches throught the country? I grew up in NY and one summer job I had was testing beaches for bacteria levels. Most beaches were one rainy day away from being closed down, and they were certainly nowhere near Mexico.

micromacrofoot 3y ago
correct, many beaches in new england have been closed this year off and on due to heavy rainfall bringing bacteria from human waste
gedy 3y ago
TJ runoff is at much worse levels, don't have link handy though
genocidicbunny 3y ago
> Most beaches were one rainy day away from being closed down, and they were certainly nowhere near Mexico. I think this is the most salient point -- most beaches are probably fine most of the time, but when you get a big storm or some other event that causes a lot of runoff, the beaches quickly become health hazards. And it doesn't even need to be anything particularly nefarious, even just dumping a bunch of nutrients into the water will cause more things to grow, nasty things included. I've been to plenty of beaches where after a strong rain, they had signs out on the beach warning about potential sewage runoff, and to avoid swimming in the water.
- gunapologist99 3y ago
  That's in tfa. The drainage pipes are discharging when there's been no rain at all (and there's not much rain in baja california)
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  I never knew this until I Googled 'is it OK to surf in the rain?'. In the context of urban beaches. I think the answer was yes, as long as it wasn't the first rain after a dry period, because of runoff from streets etc.
  - genocidicbunny 3y ago
    It's not just the street runoff. You have to consider all the stuff in the water basin that is draining into the ocean closest to the beach. For example, many coastal communities might not have a sewer system, using septic tanks and leach fields instead. When it rains enough, some of the runoff gets into there (ever seen pictures of septic tanks improperly secured that pop out of the ground after a rain?) and then moves down to the ocean. Then you also have agricultural/animal runoff if there are farms or ranches in the basin, and potentially industrial runoff if there's any heavy industry in the area too. And even if you have none of these factors, just the simple influx of nutrients can cause things like algal blooms that can be just as bad.
yawgmoth 3y ago
Many lakes are regularly closed for bacteria, definitely. Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan far away from Chicago don't have this issue, but of course they are exceptional in volume.
chasd00 3y ago
that's crazy, i grew up in Daytona Beach FL until I was 12 and I don't recall anything like this. Ever. Maybe because it rains so much there the runoff is basically clean? Also, i've vacationed up and down the AL and TX coast and have never heard of a beach closed because of bacteria/pollution.
- jccooper 3y ago
  Many older areas have no separate storm sewer system; rain goes into the regular sewers and significant rain will overload the treatment systems and lead to "bypass". Lots of these in the NE.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    The entire city of Chicago is like this.
cmrdporcupine 3y ago
My impression around here (southern Ontario) is that when this happens (high e.coli counts after heavy rain) this is mostly due to runoff from farms and from seagull, goose etc feces, not human sewer overflows. Areas with high waterfowl populations are the worst for it.

m463 3y ago

You would love Acapulco, where everything drains into ocean

hingadingadonga 3y ago
Unfortunately this is a common thing in Mexico (and extremely likely other 3rd world countries) For example, in Puebla City there is a river (Atlixcayotl) that is literally where all the local industries and waterparks dump their "runoff" (let's be honest, poop and industrially-produced chemicals) Which is a shame that this happens (even in 1st world countries). So much taking from land that has been living and forming for millions of years (the dirt is alive) and we dump all the poop/industrially-produced chemicals into the rivers. Not to mention these rivers flow into oceans and the ocean currents do not respect any borders, the fish that are affected. The rivers that touch the soils that grow food (yes your meal was created from these soils) Sorry I just meant to make a quick comment and it spurred into an entire mini-rant lmao.
- jeffbee 3y ago
  I'm not sure if it's really true about this being a Third World issue, leaving aside the fact that Mexico is a well-developed nation with a large economy and outside the technical Cold War definition that nobody uses, I am not sure you can label Mexico "Third World". But the reason I object is there are a large number of American cities that have combined sanitary and storm sewers, including ones that are ridiculously wealthy like San Francisco.
  - brewdad 3y ago
    Portland spent well over a billion dollars on the Big Pipe. It helped a lot but there are still sewer overflows a few times a year. Better than after every rain in a city that gets 9 months of rain a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Big_Pipe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Big_Pipe
  - marisnom 3y ago
    When you see the well developed parts of Mexico you could say that it isn't a third world country... But once you see the poorer parts that quickly changes. The poorest parts of Mexico are very poor, unfortunately a very unequal country. Not to mention the Mexican government is consistently ranked among the most corrupt in the world.

CameronNemo 3y ago

Yeah you have to go up to Pacific Beach / La Jolla and farther north to avoid the runoff from the Tijuana river. Of course during long dry spells it is not so bad, because there is basically no runoff. Imperial Beach is almost always dirty, though.