The Phylochip Project is designed to further our understanding of the microbial ecology of our ocean beaches. Using the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s unique new Phylochip technology which detects 32,000 taxa of bacterial in a single test, the project will give us a virtually complete microbial census of selected beaches from Campbell Cove in Sonoma County to Baker Beach in San Francisco, taken over a two year period. The results of the tests will be used to further understanding not only of the marine environment at our beaches, but to better protect the health of California’s beach-going public. By the end of the project we will have developed a test for beach water quality that we hope will give more accurate and timely results than the present testing method.

The project is funded by a grant from California State Water Resources Control Board under the Proposition 50 Clean Beaches Initiative. Marin County is performing the studies in conjunction with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Also participating in the project are Sonoma County, City & County of San Francisco, Golden Gate National Recreational Area, California State Parks, U.C. Davis with Bodega Marine Laboratories. The tests are being conducted in parallel with the current State mandated beach monitoring program.

Please visit the other pages on this site to learn more about this two-year project.