There was a minor sewage spill at Cardiff on Wednesday but no reports since then on the water quality. A pipe broke at the sewage plant approximately 1 mile upstream and it released 1500 gallons of sewage into the creek. Think of it as someone dumping 300 of those big five gallon Sparkletts water bottles. Not the best thing but not a doomsday scenario either. Reports from the county said the beach 100 feet north and 100 feet south of the creek were closed. Which basically means Cardiff Reef and Suckouts is closed but Georges to the south and Tippers to the north are open. I'm no water quality expert, but 1/2" of rain dumps more junk into the creek from street runoff and beaches are open 72 hours after the rain; so theoretically Cardiff should be open tomorrow. Also, the extreme low and high tides the past few days should have flushed it clean and mixed out the poo with cleaner ocean water. But until then... I'll stay out of the surf at Cardiff until the county gives the green light. So if you're dying to surf Cardiff this weekend, you have 2 choices: Head on down there and ask the lifeguards for the latest update. Or if you're lazy, check out the water quality link from San Diego Coastkeeper.
