We're Number 2, 4, and 8

Foster City has made another distinguished list. Our little town of 30,000 (0.1% of California's population) has three of the ten most polluted beaches in California:

(Source: Heal the Bay)

But Foster City is not as bad as it used to be: [bold added]

Erckenbrack Park in Foster City in San Mateo County was the second most polluted beach in California based on the levels of harmful bacteria in the ocean, the report said. Nearby Gull Park in Foster City was the fourth most polluted, with neighboring Marlin Park in Foster City as the eighth most polluted.

While that’s not a great showing for San Mateo County, this was actually an improvement for the county, which had six beaches included in the top 10 in 2020.

To be fair, Foster City's pollution doesn't stem from the usual culprits. The city spends millions annually on a well-maintained sewage treatment system, and there's virtually no agricultural or industrial runoff. The lagoons were designed to provide a buffer against storm water flooding from the Peninsula hills:

The Foster City Lagoon, as a drainage detention basin, is designed to successfully withstand a storm of 100-year return frequency or a storm of such severity that it is likely to occur only once each century. The lagoon therefore provides maximum drainage security for Foster City. Stormwater collected throughout the City flows to the Foster City Lagoon. All storm water enters the storm drain system through curb inlets and catch basins and drains into the lagoon from which it is pumped into the bay.

Because storms have been lacking for the past several years, the lagoons have been stagnating. And the fact that the waterfowl like it here just adds to the problem....