The Loma Prietan
October 1999
Unsafe at Any Depth
by John Maybury
Don't go in the water.
All over Pacifica, signs warn of contaminated water in San Pedro Creek and at Linda Mar Beach. County health officials have determined that coliform bacteria counts are dangerously high in the creek leading to the ocean.
Paul Jones, a local environmentalist and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, has studied the creek, too. He says, "I won't let my kids go in it. When I take water samples, I wear rubber gloves." Jones has found shopping carts, beer and soda cans, a motorcycle, a wire spool, and other junk thrown in the water that is home to steelhead trout, red-legged frogs, oystercatchers, mallards, and herons, among others.
But the real problem may be leaky, 50-year-old sewer pipes from the building boom of Linda Mar. Back then a get-rich-quick developer might slap together a rancher and make the sewer line out of cheap tarpaper. (This is a common problem for urban creeks nationwide.)
Pacifica's new Creek Cooperative met recently to hear scientist Bernie Halloran's report on water quality. Halloran, who likes to surf, began testing creek and ocean water three years ago when he "noticed the ocean didn't look too good." San Francisco's water treatment plant helped Halloran analyze his water samples, finding some pollution levels ten times higher than the government limit.
Even allowing for the ocean's forgiving nature and for nature's unforgiving gullywashers, Jones and Halloran's research has turned up alarming evidence of possible sources of pollution: Human sewage. Old Frontierland dump leaching. Stable slop from three different ranches. Animal droppings shoveled out of back yards. Car wash detergent and motor oil and grease and coolant, plus contractor debris like paint and concrete, washing down gutters into storm drains. Runoff fertilizer from overzealous garden projects.
Halloran worries that toxic water will spread disease and make people sick. He has talked to public health agencies about surfers and bathers alike getting chronic skin infections and intestinal upsets from the water. Halloran wants to test the water for about 20 different chemical and biological contaminants. A portable field testing kit is in development.
Meanwhile, how to alert the public to the danger? The Creek Cooperative discussed signs on the creek and beach, flashing messages on the highway, warnings in the local newspaper, and even flagpoles with color-coded flags (brown, perhaps?).
The Creek Cooperative meets the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. in the San Pedro Valley County Park visitor center in Pacifica. One of its concerns is nonnative invasive plants growing alongside the creek and how to eradicate them. The Cooperative is developing educational materials explaining to property owners how they can protect their yards without harming the creek. Another ongoing project is foot-by-foot mapping of the creek and its vegetation. The Cooperative also would like to train volunteers to help monitor water quality in the creek and the ocean.