In the county of San Diego, the DEH, Department of Environmental Health, had to issue a general advisory that stated there are high levels of bacteria in the oceans due to a combination of urban runoff and the stormy weather. These storms are apparently washing up bacteria from animal wastes, decomposing vegetation, and soil- a good enough reason to keep civilians out of the water for at least 72 hours. Usually there are warning signs by every coastal drainage system in San Diego, but even in places without these signs, the people of SD are advised to refrain from going into these contaminated waters. Factors like rain density, weather conditions and the volume of runoff will determine whether or not these elevated levels of bacterial contamination will persist after the storm has passed or die down.
Runoff seems to be a big issue for southern California, which does not surprise me. Once again, that region is further contaminated, whether it be from runoff or simply pollution. It irritates me because if the ocean water is being contaminated, what else is being contaminated? Their drinking water? If they do not get this under control in time, I can easily see this turning into a small catastrophe that possibly could have been avoided. http://timesofsandiego.com/life/2016/01/31/32534/
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