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The city is required to keep the beach closed for at least three days and to provide water testing to the San Mateo County Department of Health.
Pacifica, Calif., Linda Mar Beach closed on the evening of Oct. 24 after Pacifica’s sewage system was flooded with rainwater, according to the city.
Pacifica received 6 inches of rain, almost reaching the levels of a 100-year-old storm, the city reported in its press release.
Linda Mar’s sanitary sewer system was overwhelmed by an influx and seepage, causing a sanitary sewer overflow / bypass (SSO) at the Linda Mar pumping station.
The diversion then sent untreated effluent into the Pacific Ocean. As a result, the city is required to keep the beach closed for at least three days and provide water testing to the San Mateo County Department of Health.
The beach will remain closed until San Mateo County Health receives the appropriate water sample results and approves the reopening.
“Basically anything in the city on the street goes into the storm sewers with the rain and is washed out into the bay and into our local coves,” said Sajel Choksi-Chugh, executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper, said reported CBS San Francisco. “We are looking at stormwater runoff containing pollutants from every paved area around the bay, we are looking at industrial pollution, we are also looking at sewage overflows. “
Linda Mar’s recently constructed wet weather equalization pond operated successfully during the storm, although it reached full capacity.
According to the city, the equalization pond contained more than 2 million gallons of sewage effluent from the storm, which prevented the effluent from flowing onto streets or into waterways. In the past, Linda Mar has experienced widespread SSO flooding, despite an unprecedented amount of rainfall.
The beach will not reopen until the water samples are considered safe by state water quality standards.
