{"id":514379,"date":"2026-01-14T01:22:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/514379\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T01:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:22:39","slug":"sonoma-county-beaches-reopen-following-sewage-spill-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/514379\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonoma County beaches reopen following sewage spill, testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sonoma County residents as of Monday are free to safely re-enter all coastal and river beaches, most of which have been under advisories since last week due to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressdemocrat.com\/2026\/01\/06\/untreated-wastewater-spill-reported-in-lower-russian-river-residents-urged-to-stay-away\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sewage spill from the Russian River Treatment Plant<\/a> in Guerneville,\u00a0according to county health officials.<\/p>\n<p>Water sampling and testing conducted over two days at four beaches along the Sonoma County coast \u2014 Goat Rock, Stillwater, Black Point and Gualala \u2014 and other sites along the Russian River, including Johnson\u2019s Beach, Monte Rio and Patterson Point, revealed the water was within state recreational health standards. Due to the test results, the advisories issued last week warning people and pets to avoid the water were lifted, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/sonomacounty.gov\/advisory-lifted-for-remaining-coastal-and-river-beaches-downriver-from-russian-river-wastewater-spill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">county news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This was the second round of warnings lifted after Doran, Campbell Cove and Salmon Creek beaches were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressdemocrat.com\/2026\/01\/09\/advisory-lifted-at-some-beaches-after-guerneville-plant-wastewater-spill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cleared Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Sonoma Water Treatment Facility at the end of Neeley...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353735_68_TPD-L-sewagespill-010926-CC001.jpg\"\/>\n<p>The Sonoma Water Treatment Facility at the end of Neeley Road near Guerneville on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.  (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, records her latest water...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp0108_Sewage_04.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp0108_Sewage_04.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, records her latest water sample, at Doran Regional Park , Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in response to the sewage spill in Guerneville. Several site are being tested up a down the Sonoma Coast.  (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A sample from taken by Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353746_486_TPD-L-kp0108_Sewage_01.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353746_486_TPD-L-kp0108_Sewage_01.jpg\"\/>\n<p>A sample from taken by Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, at Doran Regional Park in Bodega Bay, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in response to the sewage spill in Guerneville. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"4\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-3\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, takes a sample of...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353749_532_TPD-L-kp0108_Sewaghe_02.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353749_532_TPD-L-kp0108_Sewaghe_02.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, takes a sample of water at Doran Regional Park in Bodvga Bay, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in response to the sewage spill in Guerneville. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"5\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-4\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, takes a sample of...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353754_811_TPD-L-kp0108_Sewage_03.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353754_811_TPD-L-kp0108_Sewage_03.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Ellyse Cappellano, county environment health specialist, takes a sample of water which will retested for contaminates,  at Campbell Cove in Bodvga Bay, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in response to the sewage spill in Guerneville. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 5<\/p>\n<p>The Sonoma Water Treatment Facility at the end of Neeley Road near Guerneville on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.  (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>While officials have declared the beaches safe, Sonoma County Environmental Health Director Christine Sosko said beachgoers and their pets should continue to wash off after coming in contact with the water. This is true now, following the sewage spill, and after every trip into oceans and rivers,\u00a0Sosko said in the news release.<\/p>\n<p>In general, residents should avoid going into natural waterways for 72 hours after a stronger rainstorm, she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHeavy rainfall and storm runoff during wet weather events significantly increases the risk of recreational water contamination,\u201d Sosko said.<\/p>\n<p>Wastewater<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressdemocrat.com\/2026\/01\/06\/untreated-wastewater-spill-reported-in-lower-russian-river-residents-urged-to-stay-away\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> began spilling last Tuesday morning<\/a>, after heavy storms and rising river waters overwhelmed the treatment plant, and continued pouring into the Russian River until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressdemocrat.com\/2026\/01\/08\/russian-river-sewage-spill-stopped-impacts-remain-unknown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">just before 7 a.m. Thursday<\/a>. Some of the discharge was traveling a quarter of a mile through a forested area before it reached the mainstem of the river, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The plant is designed to handle about 710,000 gallons of wastewater a day in dry weather, according to Sonoma Water, which operates the facility. Officials estimated on Friday that the volume of the spill was more than 5.5 million gallons.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Sonoma Water Treatment Facility at the end of Neeley...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768353735_68_TPD-L-sewagespill-010926-CC001.jpg\"\/>\n<p>The Sonoma Water Treatment Facility at the end of Neeley Road near Guerneville on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.  (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Russian River flows through Monte Rio, at the Monte...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-sewagespill-010926-CC002.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-sewagespill-010926-CC002.jpg\"\/>\n<p>The Russian River flows through Monte Rio, at the Monte Rio Bridge, on Friday, January 9, 2026.  Untreated wastewater, including sewage, has flowed into the Russian River from the Sonoma Water Treatment Facility, on Neeley Road, near Guerneville.  (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 2<\/p>\n<p>The Sonoma Water Treatment Facility at the end of Neeley Road near Guerneville on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.  (Christopher Chung\/The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some beaches were closed starting\u00a0Wednesday along the Sonoma County coast and warnings were posted urging people to keep out of the water. Residents were alerted as early as Tuesday morning to the spill.<\/p>\n<p>Updates on the spill and water testing are available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sonomawater.org\/rrcsd-spill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.sonomawater.org\/rrcsd-spill<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonoma County residents as of Monday are free to safely re-enter all coastal and river beaches, most of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":514380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[12883,14079,746,71807,159,13233,15185,7925,67,132,68,40598],"class_list":{"0":"post-514379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-beach","9":"tag-beaches","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-reopen","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-sewage","14":"tag-sonoma-county","15":"tag-storm","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-wastewater"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115890837739401271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}