The Enterococcus Project: February 2, 2004
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Figure 5. The chart shows concentrations at Montecito Street and the Mission Lagoon during and after the storm (again, flow at Maria Ygnacio Creek is in the background), and the results from samples collected in knee deep water along the beach to the east of the Lagoon. “Beach 2” was 100 yds east of the Lagoon, “beach 1” 300 yds further east. During the height of the storm, beach concentrations were almost a thousand times lower than at Montecito Street, but right after the rain stopped the difference was much less: beach concentrations at one point were in the thousands, about a tenth of the Montecito St. concentration. It’s interesting that sometimes “beach 1” had more bacteria than “beach 2,” sometimes less. At the beginning and at the end of the storm, further away meant cleaner, but this was not always the case when runoff was high. Bacteria concentrations are complicated by mixing in the coastal surf and by small storm drains that feed runoff into the ocean between our major creeks. Again, the beach closure/enterococcus limit is shown by the dashed line.