Effect of the South Bay Ocean Outfall (SBOO) on ocean beach water quality near the USA-Mexico border.
In early 1999, primary treatment and discharge of sewage from Tijuana, Mexico (approximately 95 million liters per day) began through South Bay Ocean Outfall (SBOO) into the ocean 4.3 km offshore. In this study, statistical comparisons were made of the bacterial water quality (total and fecal coliforms and enterococci densities) of the ocean, both before and after discharge of sewage to the SBOO began, so that the effect of this ocean discharge on nearshore ocean water quality could be quantitatively assessed. The frequency of exceedence of bacterial indicator thresholds was statistically analyzed for 11 shore (surfzone) stations throughout US and Mexico using the Fisher's exact test, for the years before (1995-1998) as compared to after the SBOO discharge began (1999-2003). Only four of the 11 shoreline stations (S2, S3, S11, and S12) showed significant improvement (decreased frequency of exceedence of bacterial indicator thresholds) after SBOO discharge began.
Gersberg
Richard
R
Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA. rgersber@mail.sdsu.edu
Tiedge
Jürgen
J
Gottstein
Dana
D
Altmann
Sophie
S
Watanabe
Kayo
K
Lüderitz
Volker
V
D001493:Bathing Beaches / Q000592:standards; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D008800:Mexico; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology; D014481:United States; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis*
D012722:Sewage