The sewage spill on the Tijuana River in Mexico the fouled South County beaches may have been significantly larger than first estimated, although it’s unclear how regulators arrived at the new figure. Standing next to the river valley for a news conference Monday, Rep. Scott Peters said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now suspects that discharges may have totaled 230 million gallons, up from the initial figure of 143 million gallons. The original volume already ranked as one of the biggest spills in the region’s history.

Sunday was the first day in several weeks that surfers, swimmers and kids wanting to play in the the wet sand had a green light to touch the Pacific Ocean in Coronado, but miles of beach south of there remained closed due to the huge sewage spill in Tijuana. Beaches from Avenida Lunar, one block south of the Hotel del Coronado, north to the Navy Base were declared safe Saturday evening by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health. Testing confirmed that the water quality met state health standards.

Here’s a cold, wet reality: the more water in California’s reservoirs, the less urgency there is to build new ocean-water desalination plants that became a major talking point during the state’s long, parched years of drought, an ultra-dry period some folks insist has still not ended despite months of heavy rains. Those record or near-record rains have replenished everything reservoirs lost over the last few years of drought, and sometimes more.