SAN DIEGO — California is home to one of the most polluted beaches in the country, according to a new study.

When he visits the beaches at Imperial Beach, Acxel Herrera-Ibarra has traded in his swimsuit for layers of protective gear. A stretch of surf in Imperial Beach is so toxic many San Diego County officials have made repeated calls for a state of emergency because of pollution from the Tijuana River Watershed flowing into the ocean.

“This beach has been closed for, I want to say, close to two years now,” Herrera-Ibarra said.  

Herrera-Ibarra is part of the Blue Water Task Force, a community volunteer-run monitoring program by Surfrider Foundation. He collects water to test the bacteria levels. In their most recent Clean Water Report, Surfrider Foundation named Imperial Beach as one of the most polluted beaches in the country. Every sample collected turned up bacteria counts that exceeded the state’s health standard for recreational waters.

“My jaw definitely dropped," Herrera-Ibarra said. "The numbers were skyrocketing.”

Rachel Weinstein, a marine biologist with the Blue Water Task Force, says safe bacteria levels range from 0-34. A recent sample taken from Imperial Beach tested at levels above 7,000.

“So if Imperial Beach is at 7,270, it’s well beyond safety levels,” Weinstein said.

The Blue Water Task Force tests beaches up and down San Diego County, across the U.S. and in a few other countries. They gather data to drive change and also alert locals to any potential danger by releasing a report every Friday.

“We send out our beach reports on Fridays so it’s good to know before the weekend when everyone’s going to go out to the beaches with their families or have a lot of free time to surf what the status is of their favorite or local beach is, so that they can be aware of the risk they’re taking with their health and what’s going on with the environment,” Weinstein said.  

She hopes their work shows the scope of the pollution problem and can help state and federal leaders come up with a solution to help the communities living with it.

“It’s really impossible to advocate for change if you don’t know what exactly the problem is," said Weinstein. "So this is a really powerful way to know which beaches need the most attention, where the sources of pollutants are coming from, and what citizens are concerned about as well."  

Herrera-Ibarra says being a part of the monitoring team makes him feel like he’s helping his community.

“I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just reading about it and talking about it, but I was actually also doing something about it," he said. "So it absolutely empowers me.”

The other polluted California locations are Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica and the mouth of the San Luis Obispo Creek in San Luis Obispo.