America's dirtiest beach is revealed, after being branded a 'toilet' (2024)

Californiais home to three of the most polluted beaches in the country, according to a new report.

The Surfrider Foundation tested thousands of water samples across the nation, with Imperial Beach in San Diego coming out as the worst.

As part of the group's survey, they also found that 64 percent of the 567 sites tested had at least one sample with unsafe bacteria levels.

A quarter of the samples came from sites in California, with three beaches in The Golden State among the ten most polluted.

Every sample recovered from Imperial Beach turned up bacteria counts that exceeded the state's health standard for recreational waters.

The beach has been closed for over two years due to toxic untreated water from the Tijuana River Watershed flowing into the Pacific Ocean before reaching the town.

Local Mayor Paloma Aguirre has urged Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency.

She told the LA Times: 'People in my community are getting sick left and right.

'We cannot afford to continue to punt the responsibility across the border because we have a dire situation here on United States soil, on California soil, that is harming California constituents.'

Residents living near the beach say they are experiencing health issues as a result of the cross-border sewage problem.

In March, resident Shannon Johnson, who has lived a few blocks from the beach since 2010, said that her and her kids don't step foot on the sand anymore.

Johnson told CBS: ''Every time we go by the beach they're asking, 'Is it going to be clean? When are they going to fix it?'

Despite Imperial Beach seeing over 700 consecutive days of beach closures, residents continue to endure the daily effects of pollution.

Johnson mentioned that her young children have also been exposed to the foul smell, as they attend school near the river valley.

'They're like, 'Why is it so smelly? Is it safe?' I'm like, yeah, I guess so. What am I supposed to tell them?' she said.

Herself, having suffered two unexplained pulmonary embolisms and other health issues, said, 'In the back of my mind, I wonder if it has something to do with the air that I'm breathing.'

According to a study by San Diego State University, heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and bacteria detected in the water are being released into the air and lingering in the soils.

'I'm more frustrated than ever since we found out that it goes into the air. So it's not just the water,' another resident told CBS.

In letters from community members calling for action, one resident said the smell is 'akin to being trapped in a portable toilet,' so strong that it wakes them up at night.

The other heavily polluted California locations are Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, where the survey found more than half the samples had unsafe bacteria levels.

The mouth of the San Luis Obispo Creek, in San Luis Obispo, saw 35 percent of samples yield high bacteria levels.

Mara Dias, the foundation's senior manager for the Clean Water Initiative, told the Times: 'Any creek that flows through an urban area is certainly going to be susceptible to similar sources of pollution, road runoff, sewage infrastructure issues, pet waste that isn't picked up properly.

'It's when they discharge at the ocean where people are recreating, that's where it's particularly problematic.'

Typically ocean water tends to be clean except after it rains when runoff and stormwater end up at the beach.

Dias advised beachgoers to avoid going into waters 72 hours after it rains in California, to pay attention to pollution advisories, and to rinse off after swimming.