Why Can't You Swim in Most of the Bay Area Lakes?

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2019

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Bay Area is defined by water. Not just by the bay itself, but by the Pacific Ocean and myriad rivers, reservoirs, lakes and ponds. Yet most of the bodies of water you drive past are devoid of people. No swimming. No splashing around. Not even on the hottest days. Why is that? Additional Reading (including a list of where you can swim): Why Can’t You Swim in Most Bay Area Lakes? Reported by Kelly O’Mara. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey and Patricia Yollin.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	Hey there, I'm Olivia Allen Price.
0:06.0	Today on Bay Curious, we're answering a question that won our May voting round on Bay Curious.
0:12.0	An anonymous listener asked why can't you swim in
0:16.0	California's reservoirs? Great question anonymous. Let's kick this reporting off
0:21.6	with a field trip.
0:24.0	We're out here at Lake Del Val, which is southeast of Livermore,
0:28.0	and this week I'm enjoying a quick dip with reporter Kelly Omera
0:32.0	on what might be one of the last warm days of the year.
0:35.0	Yeah, it's warm and windy.
0:37.0	In the summer, you actually can rent boats or paddleboards here or swim at this beach.
0:41.0	But both of us had to drive pretty far to get here.
0:43.7	Yeah, I know I passed at least several pristine reservoirs just to get to one where we were
0:48.3	actually allowed to swim. You can't swim at Stephen's Creek down in the South Bay or Crystal Springs on the peninsula or any of the main lakes in Marin.
0:57.5	You have to stay out of the water in almost all the reservoirs in Alameda County.
1:01.5	In fact, this place, Lake Del Valle is the only reservoir you can
1:04.9	swim in the whole Bay Area.
1:06.8	Today on Bay Curious, we're going to dig in on why swimming is so restricted and what it
1:11.4	would take for that to change.
1:13.0	But first, Kelly, do you want to race?
1:15.0	Of course.
1:16.0	Okay, one, two, three, go. Support for Bay Curious
	...

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