CORONADO (KGTV) — Patches of brown, green, bubbling water have been washing ashore at Coronado Beach, catching the attention of beachgoers and raising questions about the source.
Water samples taken at Dog Beach came back below the threshold for an advisory, according to Coronado Lifeguard Captain Sean Carey, who said he has been in contact with the county's Department of Environmental Health and Quality.
Carey said the county has reassured him the discolored water is the result of harmless algae blooms potentially triggered by higher-than-average water temperatures.
However, just a mile and a half south, at Avenida Lunar, an advisory is in effect because bacteria levels are exceeding health standards:
Coronado Lifeguard Captain Sean Carey wrote ABC 10News:
If you look closely, you will see that the location of the advisory is Avenida Lunar, which is almost 2 miles south of dog beach. We can rule out sewage for a few reasons.
- Samples were taken and tested at dog beach yesterday, just like they are every day, and they came back below the threshold for an advisory.
- Dog beach is approximately 10 miles from the TJ River mouth. The river flows which often pollute the ocean are diluted and diffused in the ocean water and would not appear as these small patches of discolored water, especially after traveling 10 miles.
- These patches of discolored water have been present on and off for several weeks despite the fluctuations in TJ River pollution.
It is recommended that everyone follow the guidance of the SD County DEHQ water quality monitoring program. They are subject matter experts, and they sample the waters daily at multiple points and those samples are tested at a State certified lab. As I mentioned, I have been in communication with the experts at the SD County DEHQ and they have assured me, multiple times, that these are algae blooms.
The messaging that is on our Safe Beach Day website is intended for the public to be informed of the facts so they can choose which beach to visit. I would refer to that messaging since the content of it comes straight from our conversations with DEHQ.
Not everyone accepts the algae explanation.
Leon Benham, president of Citizens for Coastal Conservancy, a nonprofit he founded in 2018 to fight the Tijuana sewage crisis, said the pattern of the discoloration doesn't match what an algae bloom would look like.
"If this was an algae bloom, then you would have the entire beach covered with the same material, like a red tide," Benham said.
Benham, a resident of Imperial Beach with more than 30 years of habitat and environmental restoration work experience, recently posted video of the brown foam online. He said the response was unexpected.
"We were kind of overwhelmed that our video received over two million hits in the last two days," Benham said.
Benham believes the discoloration is tied to the Tijuana Sewage Crisis.
"So the construction breaks in the pipes that are being built in Tijuana, they have to bypass the sewage, and it goes directly into the South Bay Ocean Outfall, which is three miles off Imperial Beach, and this is a result of that. It is a plume of sewage that is pushed by the southerly swell right up into Coronado," Benham said.
The International Boundary and Water Commission said it is currently treating up to 35 million gallons of wastewater every day that is being discharged through the South Bay Ocean Outfall. Because the water is treated, the agency said it doubts sewage is responsible for the brown foam.
We are treating up to 35 million gallons a day of wastewater that is then discharged through the SBOO. We wouldn’t have announced were going to treat more than that because we are not equipped to treat more than that and still stay within our permit. The water going through the outfall is treated, so I doubt that is responsible for the green foam. We are currently finishing up the design phase of our plans to expand the capacity of the plant to treat 50 mgd.
Beachgoers, like David Sarfati, who also coaches a kids surf camp, said the water conditions have had a real impact.
"The last couple of years we used to have a surf camp with maybe 30 kids enrolled. This year it's basically two kids tops," Sarfati said. "You can literally see the color of the water. It's absolutely disgusting."
To check the water quality and for advisories before heading to the beach or the bay, click here or call 619-338-2073.
