Got the water at Pond A4 tested.. positive for E. Coli

[dontfeedthenerd]

Hey guys,

So I've been making treks out to Pond A4 out in Santa Clara. There are a couple threads on here on the spot, this being one of them.
A guy at my company was kind enough to volunteer to help me get the water tested.

The company called on Friday and told us it tested positive for E. Coli. Now, unfortunately they only left a message, we don't know what strand of it is. For all we know, it's just from the bird crap that's probably in every single pond in the area, or it could be something more serious. We get the full results back sometime this week and I'll post them here.

However, considering the kiters I see out there on a consistent basis, I figured it might be worth putting it out there, just in case. I guess the Bay probably isn't much better, but at this point better safe than sorry.

-Leo

Full results are here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6JaN- ... EpVcWI3TXc

[shred_da_gorge]

Thanks so much for this. Not surprising, really; as you say it's a small pond in the middle of a bird sanctuary with little water flow. I commute by it daily and ride it from time to time... looks like it was good last Friday.

[kitenaked]

Can be one of several tertiary treatment lagoons from Santa Clara wastewater.....

[dontfeedthenerd]

kitenaked, I asked around and there were several different stories regarding what the exact purpose of the was. Nobody seemed to know for sure.

Like I said though, we still don't know what strand of E. Coli it is, some strands are harmless, and I don't think any kiters have gotten really sick riding it, otherwise we probably would've heard about it already.

To be honest, I was more concerned about mercury or some other heavy metals, but we won't know about those until later this week.

It's a pity, the place is buttery smooth, enclosed and gets decent winds. A couple of the people who rode here seemed a bit territorial about their "Secret spot", but I figured in the interest of public health it was more important to get the word out about the E. Coli than it was to keep their preferred low-traffic riding spot hush hush.

If anybody has friends that ride this spot, but don't read this forum please do let them know about the test results. As I stated above, I'll post a full copy of the results once I receive them.

And shred_da_gorge, don't thank me. Thank my friend from work who was kind enough to fork out the cash for the test kit. I'm merely the messenger(and I guess the grunt who went out and got the water samples for the test).

-Leo

[shred_da_gorge]

I'm guessing it's actually less exposed to wastewater than Turd Ave, but I would also guess it'd be higher in mercury than 3rd due to closer proximity to the quicksilver mines and less tidal cleansing. I've kited there with some regularity for the past few years (it's two blocks from one of my offices) and haven't gotten sick. I suspect we're all subject to the kind of sicknesses that may show up years from now, though, simply due to the fact we play in water surrounded by high population and diverse pollutants.

The other thread said it's not a refuge, but I thought it was part of Don Edwards?
http://library.fws.gov/refuges/DEsanfran.pdf

[adamrod]

E coli is everywhere. It's at 3rd. It's at sherman, it's at Crissy, it's in my stomach, it's in yours...

until he says the strand and the concentration, this is like saying there's water in the bay.

Definitely curious to hear more. I know one guy who got sick from kiting there...

[etxxz]

Sorry but i perceive this thread as alarming and it shouldn't be. What's the big deal with Ecoli in this country? i thought we naturally have it within us, helps us, and its all around us in just about everything we eat too. Very minute chance that you'll take in a strain that produces something bad for you and even then youre body is most likely capable of dealing with it and you won't even notice you ever had it. i'm not microbiologist.... but my mom is.

would be interested to see the report for sure, but not worried about mercury either. Just don't drink the water. You can swim even in mercury advisory areas without threat. Just don't ingest (usually through eating fish) or breathe (usually a release bi-product from burning coal not applicable here). kite on gentleman %$

[dontfeedthenerd]

Not meant to be alarming, more of a.. this is the information I have, do what you will with it post.

Notice, I said nothing about stopping kite activity there, or anything along those lines. Just figured it was something that people should know about, sooner than later.

Hopefully within the week, we'll find out it's just low concentrations of a harmless strand, however considering it was urgent enough for the water testing company to pick up the phone and call us, I figured the you guys would want to know about it. I guess I'm not pro enough to assure myself that I wouldn't be accidentally drinking some of that water during a session.

Not meant to be a huge OMGWTFBBQ kind of thread, my apologies if it came across as that. I equate this to the thread about the Great White at Waddell. Nobody is telling you to stop kiting there, however it's also nice to know the risks involved, however minute they may be statistically speaking.

[etxxz]

No worries i know you mean well. You're about to provide us with some VERY useful information. Thought i'd put some useful info to ago along it too. I think sometimes people read "E.coli", blank out and think about the movie Outbreak (w Wolfgang Petersen, Morgan Freeman and the little f.monkey killing everyone with some mysterious disease)

[adamrod]

yeah, I always suspected the water in A4. SUPER curious to hear what you find out!!