The small town of Half Moon Bay, known for its breathtaking costal views, is facing a crisis of high levels of bacteria-contaminated water at some of its most beloved and visited beaches.
On any given day, tourists and locals flock to the famous cash-only fish shack, Barbara’s Fishtrap, located in Half Moon Bay on Capistrano Road. With benches and umbrellas to sit under, customers can enjoy their clam chowder and fish and chips while taking in the views of paddle-boarders and kayakers that Pillar Point Harbor has to offer. Amongst the beauty though, located just a few feet away, lies one of the most contaminated beaches in California. Pillar Point Harbor Beach at Capistrano Road is number six on Heal the Bay’s 2019-2020 “Beach Bummers” list of seriously polluted beaches.
The famous Barbara’s Fishtrap that sits on the rock of Pillar Point Harbor Beach at Capistrano Road. Enclosed beaches are often a go-to for young children to play in, due to the shallow and mellow water.
For many residents of drought-stricken California, the thought of rain is welcomed. But oftentimes the issues that follow a major rainstorm are overlooked, such as runoff that washes pollutants and high levels of bacteria through local creeks that eventually lead into San Mateo County’s beaches. Storm drains flow untreated to coastal beaches, and are often contaminated with motor oil, animal waste, pesticides, yard waste, and trash.
Ryan Searcy, an executive committee member of Surfrider Foundation, has worked for the foundation for about 10 years, first in San Diego, then working his way up the coast to San Mateo County.
Searcy specializes in beach water quality and previously worked at Heal the Bay for three years, helping develop supplementary tools and models to detect bacterial quality at California beaches.
“The “Beach Bummers” list is the annual list that if you’re a beach-goer or the County of San Mateo, you don’t want to find yourself on that list,” said Searcy.
Heal the Bay, founded in 1985, is a non-profit advocacy group that focuses on protecting coastal waters and watersheds on the coast of California. They are also responsible for publishing annual report cards of California’s beaches based on their water quality, as well as their “Beach Bummers” list.
Out of the 10 beaches on their 2019-2020 “Beach Bummers” list, 6 of the beaches were located in San Mateo County.
Searcy explains that despite rain runoff being one of the main contributors to beach water pollution, he states that enclosed beaches in San Mateo County are also a major contributor to the dangerously high bacteria levels.
A warning sign posted at the entrance of the Pillar Point Harbor Beach. The sign warns beach-goers of high bacteria levels, and advises them to steer clear of water contact and activities.
San Mateo County beaches received a handful of “F” grades as a result of Half Moon Bay being home to several enclosed beaches, including Pillar Point Harbor Beach at Capistrano Road.
Heal the Bay defines enclosed beaches as having “obstructions like a landmass or jetty blocking the beach from open water.” Enclosed beaches are often associated with lagoons, marinas, and harbors, and have little wave action and poor water circulation.
“That is likely the largest factor in keeping contamination around,” said Searcy. “The beaches in Half Moon Bay suffer because largely there’s a lack of transportation to flush out contamination.”
Searcy explains that the poor water circulation ultimately does not allow for the bacteria in the water to move or flush out, which only worsens the contamination, creating a stagnant body of water that exceeds state health criteria for recreational water use.
“While transport is an important factor, you also have to think about the sources, “ said Searcy. “If there wasn’t an injection in these beaches, then it doesn’t even matter what the transport is.”
The Surfrider Foundation — along with their Blue Task Force, a group of volunteers who sample the water from local beaches — routinely monitors the water quality, specifically looking for fecal indicator bacteria, or FIB, to confidently report that the water quality is safe and accessible.
In California, water samples are collected routinely, at a minimum of once a week from April through October, under the California Beach Bathing Water Quality Standards (AB 411) and as recommended by EPA’s National Beach Guidance and Performance Criteria for Recreational Waters.
“Every beach of a certain popularity, or that sees a certain number of people per year, is required to be sampled for bacteria at least once weekly,” said Searcy.
Heal the Bay defines the most common types of fecal indicator bacteria as total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococcus. Total coliform contains coliform of all types and originates from many sources including soil, plants, animals, and humans. Fecal coliform and enterococcus bacteria are found in the fecal matter of mammals and birds.
“There are a number of beaches in Half Moon Bay that are constantly well over that [bacteria] limit,” explained Searcy.
Although this fecal bacteria does not always come from humans, human sewage does regularly end up in the ocean through “sewage infrastructure failure and storm drains,” according to Heal the Bay.
“Every year there’s a number of samples taken at these beaches, and to end up on the Beach Bummers list means that a majority of your samples collected at that beach are failing the state’s allowable standards,” expressed Searcy.
The County of San Mateo is taking action to help improve the water quality at the beaches.
Reid Bogert, a Half Moon Bay native and specialist for Flows to Bay, the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Program, says that although Half Moon Bay beaches are suffering, San Mateo County has implemented a handful of resources to help aid stormwater runoff.
One aspect of the resource plan consists of green streets, which are infrastructures designed to capture stormwater and intended to capture only runoff that is generated from the street and adjacent land that drains into the street.
“The pollutants carried in this [storm] water can harm larger bodies of water into which it drains, like San Mateo County creeks, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean,” reads Flows to Bay’s website.
One of the countywide green street infrastructures is located in Half Moon Bay, adjacent to the Half Moon Bay Library and one block from Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate School.
“We also have our rain barrel rebate program,” said Bogert.
The rain barrels are used to collect rainwater from hard surfaces, such as rooftops, and store it for later use. Rain barrels are a low-cost system that allows one to supplement one’s water supply with a sustainable source and helps preserve locals watersheds by detaining rainfall.
Rain barrels protect local creeks, the Bay, and the Ocean, by “reducing urban runoff that transports litter, motor oil, and other pollutants into storm drains,” according to Flows to Bay’s website.
“I think of the “Beach Bummers” list as a great motivator for starting remediation projects and identifying what the issue is, and cleaning up the beach,” concluded Searcy.