This winter, we continued our bacteria pollution study with the goal of identifying the sources of fecal bacteria at six sites in Jolly Giant Creek in Arcata. This Humboldt Bay tributary was flagged for further investigation due to the frequency of human genetic material in samples taken near Samoa Blvd. during the Regional Water Board's Coastal Streams Pathogens TMDL Project.

COVID-19 update: Our sampling event scheduled for April 6 has been delayed due to both safety concerns and limited lab capacity. Our extraordinairy colleagues at the Humboldt County Public Health Lab are working diligently to analyze COVID-19 samples. We will resume our Jolly Giant Creek Bacteria Source Study as soon as it is safe to do so.

Since 2016, Humboldt Baykeeper, the Humboldt County Public Health Laboratory, and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board have been working to identify whether bacteria pollution in streams and at ocean beaches is coming from humans, dogs, ruminants (cattle), birds, or a combination. This work was launched when Baykeeper petitioned the state to designated six waterways as impaired by bacteria pollution based on our Citizen Water Monitoring data.