The Monterey County Health Department has closed San Carlos Beach after a sewage spill Friday contaminated the water.
Health officials also recommend no swimming or contact with storm drain water, which may be contaminated with bacteria, viruses, protozoa or chemicals and could cause serious illness.
Might pay off in 50,000 years.
According to the Pacific Grove Public Works Department, steady erosion along the coastline is not to the point where immediate action needs to be taken, however it no longer can be ignored either.
“We’ve retained Haro, Kasunich and Associates to do the study,” said Public Works Director Daniel Gho.
That study, which is planned to begin soon, will look into different scenarios the City could take.
Must be a feast for the gulls
Santa Cruz Sentinel Photo
Native to Baja and the Gulf of California, red tuna crabs spend their lives drifting en masse in the water column offshore. Generally, Monterey is too cold for them. But during El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, warm water moves unusually far north, bringing the crabs up with it. ENSO is an irregularly periodical climate change caused by variations in sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean.
Go easy on the frijoles, ok?
The bureau closed access to McAbee Beach around 10:35 a.m., after the Monterey Fire Department reported a sewage spill coming from El Torito Mexican Restaurant, located at 600 Cannery Row, according to the county officials.
The restaurant sits adjacent to the beach and right on the water’s edge.
The fire department learned of the spill sometime between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. when a person passing through the area called to report sewage spilling into the ocean, according to Monterey Fire Captain Barry Perkins.
The amount of sewage released into the Monterey Bay is unknown at this time, Supervising Environmental Health Specialist with Monterey County Marni Flagg said.
Lovers Point Beach has been posted with an advisory due to high levels of bacteria found in samples taken on June 2.
The beach will remain posted with the advisory until bacteria levels are safe for recreational water contact according to state guidelines.
The shoreline and recreation trail are definitely not safe after dark.
Just after midnight, an officer contacted a man parked near the ocean front on the 1600 block of Ocean View Boulevard. The man was allegedly in possession of a loaded and concealed weapon on himself and having drug paraphernalia in his vehicle.
Santos Gervacio Benitez, 18, of Salinas, was arrested and booked into Monterey County Jail.
At 11 a.m. an officer saw a man smoking marijuana adjacent to the waterfront on the 1700 block of Sunset Drive. Another man was contacted near the water. Both men, under 21, were found in possession of alcohol and had been illegally collecting marine life from teh tide pools.
Alvaro Miranda, 20, and Jesus Miranda Gonzalez, 19, both of San Jose, were arrested on suspicion of a minor in possession of alcohol and illegally taking animals from a marine sanctuary.
Interesting. What is given up in order get bestowed with these tax dollars? No fireworks shot over the water?
On Thursday, the state water board announced it had awarded the city a $3.3 million grant to fund part of a planned $4.8 million project aimed at improving a storm drain and sewer pipelines near the beach. The drain and pipelines are believed to be the source of poor water quality due to human bacteria contamination. The beach is regularly subject to public warnings and closure due to poor water quality.
Nevermind the humans, close the beach for sea lions.
At a March 5 P.G. City Council meeting, numerous volunteers who help protect the seals urged the city to install bigger fencing to protect them. But before they even spoke, city
manager Tom Frutchey told the council that the city “will go ahead, and even without coastal commission approval, erect a more substantial barrier.” The city installed the lattice fencing not long after the meeting.
Plumbing contractor sends sewage down storm drain, public works lets drain empty to ocean.
Both the MFD and the Monterey County Health Dept. were informed by MPW last night that the diversion pump had been switched on, Ramirez says, but this morning the health department was informed by MPW that the switch was still turned off. Ramirez could not elaborate as whether the error was mechanical or human, but a statement issued by the health department earlier today said it was a “mechanical failure.”
Kind of like the immigration policy. Come here, give birth and you can stay. Will there be social programs for the seals? Fish Stamps?
The P.G. City Council Oct. 16 unanimously agreed to clarify the harbor-seal protection policy in the city charter. If pups are delivered at Lovers Point, officials will temporarily close the beach, install fences and post signs to keep the public away while they wean.