County warns of fecal bacteria detected in ocean water off Pismo Beach
Update, 12 p.m.:
San Luis Obispo County Public Health Agency bacteria testing sites along the coast of Pismo Beach showed test results for fecal bacteria within acceptable levels for human safety as of Tuesday morning, Pismo Beach city manager Jorge Garcia told The Tribune.
Original Story:
High levels of fecal bacteria detected in ocean water has prompted a health advisory in Pismo Beach as county officials try to determine the source.
On Sept. 16, ocean water testing performed near Wadsworth Avenue north of Pismo Pier by the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Agency and the Surfrider Foundation detected elevated levels of enterococcus bacteria, which is one of three types of fecal bacteria along with e. coli and total coliform, county environmental health specialist Liberty Amundson said.
Since then, health advisories have been posted at beach access spots along the beach, and residents and swimmers have been advised to stay out of the water until the advisory is over, Amundson said.
Amundson said while the presence of fecal bacteria was over the safe limit for humans, the source of the bacteria — human or animal — is still unknown at this time.
“When we say we can’t tell you the source of the bacteria, we can’t tell you if it came from a human source, a bird source or other wildlife or run off from a creek, for example,” Amundson said. “What we can do is we can look at the environment and determine what it’s not, and then we also get any reporting for any kind of sewage release, so it’s safe to rule out that it’s not a human source that is potentially an ongoing bacteriological source at this location.”
Though this is one of the longest-lasting public health advisories in the county’s recent history, Amundson said that mostly comes down to the fact that bacteria continues to show up in daily tests along the stretch of Pismo Beach along Wadsworth Avenue, though the levels have declined in the past few days.
Amundson said the county will continue monitoring bacterial levels in the water until they are back within levels safe for human contact. In the meantime, swimmers are advised to steer clear of the water near the signs posted at beach access points in the area, she said.
“The reason that the advisory has lasted as long as it has because we’ve been getting consistent positive samples with high bacteria levels,” Amundson said. “It looks like the numbers were increasing and sort of peaked, and now are coming back down in terms of number of bacteria that we’re we’re seeing in our samples, so fingers crossed that that trend continues and we are able to lift the advisory, but we won’t lift the advisory until we get a sample that’s below that state limit.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 11:05 AM.
