How Safe is Goleta Beach?
By an edhat reader
Hello EdHatters,
I truly don't want to open up a can of worms, but I wanted some input about some signage out at Goleta Beach. My significant other drove by there today to check out the actual "beach status" (i.e. is there any sand or is it still all rock) and was perplexed to find that there are still warning signs up for bacteria levels.
Since it appears from the press release on July 7th that the levels are "safe", did they just leave the signs up as a precaution or have they just not gotten around to taking them down?
Thank you in advance for your input :)
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19 Comments
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Jul 13, 2018 10:37 AMWell, the truth is that all of our beaches are contaminated beyond a healthful level for humans..
The "stats" however will say the bacterial amounts are safe..
Like the difference between a mild heart-attack, or a more severe one...
Choose.
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Jul 13, 2018 04:40 PMThat is not a truth at all. Not if you believe in science. 15 beaches are tested for coliform and enterococcus bacteria. 9 beaches had virtually no detectable levels, 5 tested within accepted state and federal standards (perhaps not YOUR standards) and one, Goleta, failed. Goleta is tested at three locations. One site met the criteria to close it. Don't know why they chose "warning". I agree that the press release was premature. One batch of "acceptable" results without that being repeated is not good science. Meanwhile, it smells like crap down there. Might tell you something. One more thing: statistically, you are FAR more likely to get sick from contact with a shopping cart handle that a few hundred people touched than you are from even those 5 beaches with a few little bugs. Sorry if the science gets in the way of perceptions.
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Jul 13, 2018 09:05 PMGINGER1: I liked your reply up until: "One more thing: statistically, you are FAR more likely to get sick from contact with a shopping cart handle that a few hundred people touched than you are from even those 5 beaches with a few little bugs. Sorry if the science gets in the way of perceptions"
Almost every time i see someone grab a shopping cart, they use one of those provided anti-bacterial wipes on the handle. So probably at worst, ten people have used it before you since it was wiped. ALSO.... the thing with going into the ocean is... you don't just touch the sea water with your hands. When you swim, it goes in your mouth, your eyes, your nose, your other... well, i think you get the idea. Much different from touching a handle somewhere. But i DO fairly believe in the testing that our officials do to determine the safety of our waters.
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Jul 13, 2018 11:38 PMWhy do people blatantly lie outright? Ginger1 has no statistics for the number of people who get sick from touching a shopping cart, and no scientific study comparing that to those who get sick from swimming at beaches with high bacteria counts. As for "a few little bugs", we aren't talking about insects, the size isn't relevant, and "a few" means a handful, whereas the counts are vastly higher than that. Every time you ever see her make a claim in the future, remember this about her.
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Jul 13, 2018 10:54 AMIt is probably safe, but just head a few miles north to Sands, Haskell's, El Cap, etc. and take a dipperoonie. Even the north side of Campus Point will do.
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Jul 13, 2018 11:07 AMthe beach guide dot org says that goleta beach failed to meet water quality standards as of july 8th and they don't recommend going in the water. they are basing it on SB channelkeeper results.
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Jul 13, 2018 06:23 PMI'll get back in the water at Goleta Beach as soon as I see Tom Fayram (the man who decided it was ok to dump the toxic sludge on the beach) swimming with his family there.
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Jul 13, 2018 10:17 PMNATUREBOY thought it didn't post, so he ends up posting six times? Hello, ED staff: Anyone working today? (Well, not now. It's 10:17 PM, but earlier?)
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Jul 14, 2018 10:46 AMEmailing us directly is the best way to correspond, ed@edhat.com
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Jul 13, 2018 10:27 PMIf you think it's safe to swim at Goleta Beach, I advise you attend a Goleta Sanitary District Board meeting. Ask about the sewage pumped into the ocean right off the beach.. That outlet pipe for "wastewater" is one mile offshore and the sewage burbling out into the ocean is secondary, not tertiary. (Re: screening and treatment.) This means the sewage isn't screened as much as you would hope/expect and there's plenty of "solid" bits going out into the swimming area there. Happy "diperoonie," as one guy put it. And have fun surfing Campus Point, too.
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Jul 13, 2018 10:59 PMThe ocean is always fish poop soup.
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Jul 13, 2018 11:47 PM"The ocean is always fish poop soup"
So? That's not a pathogen. https://www.livescience.com/55189-how-much-of-ocean-is-whale-pee.html
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Jul 14, 2018 07:38 AMSort of a side bar: Shopping cart/baskets are bacteria/virus heaven, but can you imagine what's on the stylus used to sign for credit card purchases at a pharmacy counter where everyone using it has some kind of health problem?
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Jul 15, 2018 05:47 AMResponse to Luvaduck 7/14 7:38 am.: Or are picking up meds they take for years for blood pressure or thyroid or antidepressants? Not much more infected than the rest of the retail world! If I'm that sick I get my Rx delivered or picked up by someone else. Yes, sometimes there's no choice but to go to pharmacy sick. Hope you get flu and regular vaccines, even as an adult.
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Jul 14, 2018 09:22 AMI dont think it was as "unsafe" as everyone cried about. I wonder if summerland beach still has signs, since the data from that last press release stated that summerland was beyond "dirtier" than goleta. yet no sewer pipe outflow there........
hmmmmmmmmmmm
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Jul 14, 2018 10:04 AMnot sure why i was deleted. a surf/swim watch site says SB channelkeeper retested n june 8 and deemed it unsafe. the reopening press release was june 7, after retesting june 5. hope this helps.
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Jul 14, 2018 11:13 AMLUVADUCK is right. From now on I'm going to carry santizing tissues with me and scrub every credit card "stylus" and also every screen before signing with my fingertip (if it's a screen signing needed). Can't wait to see the looks on the cashiers' faces.
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Jul 15, 2018 06:53 PMMaybe I missed it in one of the posts, but does anyone know if fish caught off the Goleta pier are safe to eat? Thanx
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May 31, 2020 11:46 PMIs goleta beach EVER going to be cleaned up? Seems like the go-to dumping ground for any soil run off and the beach has warning levels pretty much ALL the time. I emailed the mayor and a few other people about it before and just got the run around.