Author Topic: Rain & Bacteria  (Read 7580 times)

NateNate

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Rain & Bacteria
« on: January 11, 2017, 10:50:27 AM »
What's your opinion on surfing in the rain or within 3 days of rain. I know they suggest 3 days after for the bacteria levels to lower but wanted to know your opinion. Sometimes the best swells are right after or even during. So Cal is about to hit with rain for a few days but the surf is too good to pass up. We normally receive only a few inches of rain a year, but this year we're getting a lot more which is great because we need it. I got sick two months ago after rain.  I've been a couple times so I guess I'm 1 for 3 on getting sick after rain. I know they don't let the seals train in the water for 3 days due to so many guys getting sick. Just wanted to know your opinion and I plan on still going out tomorrow morning.

Area 10

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2017, 10:59:08 AM »
If I had to wait for three days with no rain before surfing I'd get to surf about once every two years :)

laszlo

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2017, 11:53:03 AM »
The first rains in the season are the worst, after many rain events most of the crap has already been washed out. At least that's what I always tell myself. It kind of depends on how desperate you are for surf.

PonoBill

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2017, 12:46:16 PM »
Saw a guy at Cardiff a few weeks ago with a rash on his neck that looked like festive staph infection to me. He was headed to the doc that afternoon, so I spared him the horror stories.  It was from surfing a few days earlier in one of the first rains.

I can smell the crap in the water after the rains. I'm keeping a close eye on my skin and in a rare happenstance, I don't have any open cuts. I rinse off after surfing, but no matter what it's a bit of a chance. You're more likely to get an infection from the sand than the water, most bacteria kaack pretty quickly in sea water. The salt concentration is too high. But the brackish stuff washing through the dry rivers gives them quite a bit of time to make it safely into you.

Some bacteria can handle high salt concentrations, most virii are unaffected by salt.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 12:49:59 PM by PonoBill »
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Night Wing

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2017, 12:47:44 PM »
@NateNate

You're lucky where you live and sup surf, you only get sick from bacteria. For people like me who live in a state whose coastline borders the Gulf of Mexico, we have to be on the lookout for a flesh eating bacteria named, Vibrio Vulnificus. It's deadly especially if there is an open cut anywhere on your body. Contract this and you're in deep trouble very quickly. We always see a few cases from the state of Texas, where I live, every year. The link for it is below.

http://naturalsociety.com/flesh-eating-bacteria-what-you-need-to-know-6348/
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hbsteve

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2017, 12:59:36 PM »
Area 10--In southern California it is dry for many months at a time.  Several of the rivers, dry most of the year, are about 30 miles long.  Then when it does rain, all the pollution and bacteria washes down the storm drains and rivers into the bays and ocean, all at once.  The water looks and smells bad. 


OUTSIDEWAVE

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2017, 01:26:44 PM »
I did it u years ago and got very sick  with sometime of hepatitis . There was a story on the news a few months back of a long time surfer  that surfed sunset cliffs he went out  with a day of the rain got sick    and died.  so me that is pretty much  a  no go
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Area 10

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2017, 01:32:30 PM »
Area 10--In southern California it is dry for many months at a time.  Several of the rivers, dry most of the year, are about 30 miles long.  Then when it does rain, all the pollution and bacteria washes down the storm drains and rivers into the bays and ocean, all at once.  The water looks and smells bad.
Thanks - yes I know - I was just having a bit of fun. But actually even here in the UK sometimes a really bad rainstorm can lead to the local sewage facility being overwhelmed and then we get warnings to avoid sports that involve immersion in the water. It doesn't sound anything like as bad as you get though.

NateNate

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2017, 01:55:39 PM »
@ Night Wing - That's scary stuff knowing your at the risk every time you SUP. We worry about Naegleria fowleri in the summer time at the river. Make sure you have no open wounds that's for sure.

Sounds like a few of you guys sit it out and wait. I think I'll do the same w/ the King tides and all. Water hitting all the way up the walls at La Jolla shores.

I wasn't aware someone died from a bacteria at sunset cliffs. Although I'm sure it's really rare, that's pretty scary. Can't surf if your sick or dead so I'll wait it out.

RichH

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2017, 07:25:13 PM »
I'm curious.  When did this concern start coming up?  When I was surfing in San Diego in the late 70's, early 80's, this wasn't even a topic of discussion.  It seems like only in the past decade or two has this been an issue.

Rich

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PonoBill

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2017, 08:02:53 PM »
Pervasive media and universal information--millions of people have died of bacterial infections. It was just as common previously on a per capita basis, but it was unremarked. It's still very common--most "complications" that people die from in hospitals are infection-related. But if you get an infection in an uncommon way and die, then it's a "man bites dog" story, and everyone hears about it.

Communicable diseases, including infections, cause about 20% of the 60 million deaths per year. The majority of deaths (about 80%) are non-communicable diseases like heart failure, cancers, etc. Smoking is the primary cause of death in the world. Yup, smoking. Of course, nobody gets out of this alive, so there's that.
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TallDude

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2017, 08:29:05 PM »
Pervasive media and universal information--millions of people have died of bacterial infections. It was just as common previously on a per capita basis, but it was unremarked. It's still very common--most "complications" that people die from in hospitals are infection-related. But if you get an infection in an uncommon way and die, then it's a "man bites dog" story, and everyone hears about it.

Communicable diseases, including infections, cause about 20% of the 60 million deaths per year. The majority of deaths (about 80%) are non-communicable diseases like heart failure, cancers, etc. Smoking is the primary cause of death in the world. Yup, smoking. Of course, nobody gets out of this alive, so there's that.
Even with cancer, most actually die from an infection that took over their bodies due to a weakened immune system. Peripheral vascular disease is a condition that lifelong smokers get, were basically the skin cells start to die. Their skin tears easily, and they get sores that won't heal. These sores, quite often bed sores, are subject to staph infections which take over their bodies and causes the body to shut down. This is long before there cancer has run it's course.  My wife has been an oncology nurse for almost 20 years and both of my in-laws are doctors, so I hear all about it. It's a constant reminder of how lucky we are. Growing up at the beach, Hepatitis was always the talk when the water got dirty. The hard core surfers would risk it for a swell. Then someone we knew would get very ill, or worse die. Live and learn, or is it learn so you can live.
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stoneaxe

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2017, 06:37:48 AM »
Not much they can do about the source for California and the likes...dry river beds with bacteria growing quickly in warm moist soil with dead things in it. I'd avoid breaks near river outlets after rains. I avoid breaks here (most of the time) that are near combined sewer overflows after heavy rains. Same issue A10 is talking about. I got a bad stomach bug after surfing near a CSO after some heavy rains. Best to avoid for a few days.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 06:43:30 AM by stoneaxe »
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Board Stiff

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2017, 08:51:33 AM »
Bacterial levels after rain are especially concerning in areas that have combined sewer overflows. Because these systems use the same plumbing to carry residential and industrial wastewater as they do for surface runoff, when heavy rains push the system past it's treatment capacity, the overflow (a mix of runoff and sewage, industrial waste, etc) gets dumped out into public waterways. Boston Harbor and the Charles River are a prime example of this problem, though remediation work over the past couple decades have cleaned these up quite a bit.

Tom

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Re: Rain & Bacteria
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2017, 09:03:30 AM »
I'm curious.  When did this concern start coming up?  When I was surfing in San Diego in the late 70's, early 80's, this wasn't even a topic of discussion.  It seems like only in the past decade or two has this been an issue.

Rich

It really began with San Diego's favorite activist Donna Fry. Skip Fry and Hank Warner had a surf shop in Pacific Beach quite a while ago. A lot of local surfers would hang out there, and they noticed that after a rain, many of them got sick with similar symptoms. Donna, Skips wife, convinced the city and county of San Diego to start testing the water, especially after a rain. This was very difficult because San Diego would lose a lot of tourist dollars if the the public knew how bad it's beaches were polluted. Donna, along with the Surfrider Foundation showed up at all the city council meeting, pestered the county supervisors, and demanded something be done. She got her way, and now we have mandatory testing and reporting of the health of the water. Her program became well publicized and is adopted state wide. The findings also led to many changes that protect the beaches from pollution, especially the effects of post rain pollution.

This got her started in politics and she got elected to the city council and later came very close to being elected as the Mayor of San Diego.


http://womensmuseumca.org/hall-of-fame/donna-frye
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 09:08:10 AM by Tom »

 


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