Mystery Sludge at Fiesta Island

At the “town hall dialogue,” on September 20th, in the middle of a discussion about possible ways of revamping San Diego’s city council, Councilwoman Donna Frye gave an example demonstrating the ways in which the executive branch oozes over the concerns from the city council, making the city council often appear spineless and ineffective.

The example came in the form of a warning to citizens to keep their children and pets far away from the gooey substance that has been washing up on Fiesta Island’s shoreline. Frye said that she had never seen anything like it before and wasn’t sure if it was sewage or sea-life and was disappointed about the slow response from the city in regards to her concerns.

One week later, Frye’s no longer surprised, she’s just plain old scared for the public’s health. As of September 26th, the Councilwoman, along with all of city officials, continue to try and figure out what the substance is and where it came from. More importantly, Frye is focusing on alerting the public about the dangers the unidentified floating object poses.

“There needs to be some signage posted, informing the public about it. The county has posted advisories to stay out of the water but I’m talking about signs along the shoreline that might prevent kids from playing with it or dog’s from eating it, at least until we find out the origin of it.”

Throughout the past week, Frye has appeared on several television news stations and the story has been covered by online publication, voiceofsandiego.org.

According to a report released on the 26th, from Chief Operating Officer, Jay Goldstone’s office, the sludge was first noticed by a citizen walking his dog around Fiesta Island on the 15th and since then, hundreds of samples have been collected. The report goes on to say that several different agencies are testing the sludge in hopes of finding its origin.

In the report, Kacey Shangles, from the Point Loma Wastewater Plant, said the material “looked like solid sewage debris commonly found in septic systems and sewer pump out trucks (for port-a-potties).”

The comment from Shangles points to strictly guesswork on the part of the city in determining the source of the material, a perplexing and frustrating aspect for Councilwoman Frye. “I feel like no one from the city’s been listening.”

For pictures of the sludge and for more information, goo on over to Councilwoman Frye’s website at sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd6 and click on the tab entitled "memorandums."