Community Corner

Heal the Bay Releases Summer Report Card

Santa Monica Pier received an A grade for its improved water quality, but Malibu received an F.

The non-profit, Heal the Bay released its End of Summer Beach Report Card Tuesday, which tracks bacterial pollution from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The organization monitored and rated 447 beaches in California over the summer, and while some beaches had excellent results, others still have a long way to go.

Heal the Bay's , released in May, indicated the overall water quality at Los Angeles County beaches worsened in 2010-11. This summer, 89 percent of Santa Monica Bay beaches earned A or B grades, with the biggest improvement in Los Angeles happening in Long Beach, where all the sites monitored this summer got A or B grades—a first since 1990. Last year, that was only the case with 73 percent of beaches in that area.

"We continue to see water quality improvements at California beaches,” Heal the Bay President  Mark Gold said in a statement. “A sustainable source of beach monitoring funding is critical to ensure that we continue to capitalize on these gains and safeguard the public health of millions of ocean users statewide.”

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While the quality of Santa Monica Bay’s water has improved since last year, and the pier earned an A grade for the second year in a row, other beaches in the area including Malibu Pier, Surfrider Beach and Topanga State Beach all earned F grades.

Ninety-four percent of Orange County beaches earned an A grade, which was slightly worse than last summer, while all 73 beaches monitored in San Diego earned an A or B grade. All 40 Ventura beaches got an A.

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The news wasn't so good at San Pedro's Cabrillo Beach, which continued its eight-year streak of earning F grades, despite the city of Los Angeles pouring $15 million into improvement projects. Water quality was better in Santa Barbara County, where 87 percent of beaches received A or B grades. 

While the water quality improved in Southern California this summer, there wasn't a similar uptick statewide. Like last year, 92 percent of California beaches received A or B grades. Nine earned Cs, nine received Ds and 19 got Fs.

Heal the Bay bases its report on weekly water quality monitoring data that is provided by dischargers and health agencies. The methodology behind the Beach Report Card—which the nonprofit calls "is a comprehensive examination of coastal water in California, Oregon and Washington—can be found here

Heal the Bay has also announced a soon-to-be-released, free Beach Report Card app through which a comprehensive, weekly analysis of coastline water quality can be accessed. Go here for more information about the app.


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