Initial DNA testing of bacteria in the mud and the surf zone at Goleta Beach, where the county is dumping mud from the Jan. 9 debris flow in Montecito, show very low to no evidence of human fecal material, a UCSB scientist said today.
“This is good news,” said Patricia Holden, a professor of environmental microbiology who began the DNA study at the beach on Jan. 18. “I’m so delighted.”
Holden said the initial DNA results, covering seven days through Jan. 26, are similar to what her team has detected during water quality testing at Goleta Beach in the summer months, when no dumping was taking place.