SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The tide pools at Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma bring visitors from near and far.
“The coastline is stunning. It’s just gorgeous,” Robin Bonica said.
But there’s a new sight on that gorgeous coastline.
There are signs posted near the tide pool area of the park that read it’s closed due to a sewage spill and urging people not to get in contact with the water.
“Here we are on such a pristine area and it’s a reminder that humans are right up the shore doing their thing. It’s kind of disappointing, really,” Jim Murray said.
The National Park Services said in a press release on Wednesday that a sewage spill at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tuesday prompted a shutdown of Point Loma’s western shore, which includes the coastline along Cabrillo National Monument.
“Well, it’s always upsetting, you know, when the waters got any kind of pollution in it,” Roland Espinosa said.
In the National Park Services’ release, the agency said, “The closure is one quarter mile north and south of the spill site at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The public is encouraged to avoid contact with water along the shoreline in the area. Although the closure does not affect the park’s main tidepool area, park officials have closed access to the tidepool area as a cautionary measure.”
The National Park Services added that the closure only pertains to the tidepool area and that parking lots, trails, visitors center, lighthouse and exhibits remain open.
“To come here to, in this case, a National Monument, and see some closure due to pollution kind of takes away a little bit from the experience,” Murray said.
As to what exactly prompted the signs, the City of San Diego told ABC 10News that the cause of the spill is still being investigated.
Seeing some kind of pollution doesn’t come as a surprise for some locals with the amount of rain San Diego’s been getting.
“But any time it rains, it’s kind of expected. I’ve been here for quite a few years, and, you know, I don’t go in the ocean for at least a week or two after it rains,” Espinosa said.
