View this post on Instagram
Bolinas beach in California’s Marin County has been closed after human waste started leaking from the nearby cliffs.
As CBS News reports, Marin County officials were at Bolinas Beach making a routine inspection for a permit request when they discovered white crusty areas and fluid seeping out of nearby bluffs in the area known as Big Mesa. “So, we took some samples from a few different areas where we saw this substance coming from the bluffs, tested it, and the result was high levels of bacteria associated with human waste. So, wastewater or some sort of sewage,” said Marin County Communications Director Laine Hendricks.
County officials say the sewage has appeared at several dozen locations, stretching about a mile and a half, with most of the releases happening at high tide. Though many homes in the area are on septic systems, the extent of the problem indicates it is more than just one failed septic tank. “We are bringing in some technical experts to help us evaluate how best to test what might be causing the issue,” said Hendricks.
View this post on Instagram
The beach is now off-limits to people and pets, with the length of the closure still uncertain. For now, county officials say the water is safe to drink, but homeowners with wells should test their water as a precaution.
However, at least one surfer was undeterred by the leaking sewage. “I really don’t know much about this except that the surf is nice and empty,” Mickey Murch told The San Francisco Standard. “I go in the water even during the biggest storms in the winter, when people’s septic systems are overflowing, so maybe I have a good immune system. I’m a nonbeliever.”
