Late Spring Gully Washer

We got maybe our only gully washer of the ‘19/‘20 winter season last weekend (April 5/6) and it cleaned things out a bit. Probably too late to let any new spawners (steelhead) into the system but hopefully got some smolts down creek and into the ocean for a successful next chapter in their anadromous life.

As usual, the spring wash wasn’t a pristine event for our watershed.

1) The runoff at the beach didn’t smell great and carried a lot of sediment.

2) There was a mole crab die-off at the mouth in the reaches of the creek run-off. I’m not a biologist so maybe this was a natural event but from a layman’s perspective, it didn’t look good.

3) Despite our new Equalization Basin, the south pump station was dumping what I believed to be raw sewage out into the ocean. Rumor has it it was somehow related to the fire at the Linda Mar bathrooms and pump station earlier this winter. Someone should look into this...

Keep it clean Pacifica!

And if you find yourself locked-down more than 5 miles from our creek and beach, find a way to move here - you’ll be happier!

Two creeks? No, northern one with two surfers wading through is raw sewage leaving lift station. The southern one is San Pedro Creek entering the Pacific Ocean.

Owen BrizgysApril 21, 2020