5 ms·

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 rain

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.

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.