Heal the Bay's 18th Annual Beach Report Card
The folks at Heal The Bay have released the results of their annual Beach Report Card, rating 517 So Cal beaches on water quality using a simple grade scale of A-F. What are they looking for? Well, poo actually. They measure the level of raw sewage year-round to check the level of fecal bacteria pollution levels in the surfzone. YAY!So if you surf, swim, dive, fish or stick your tootsies in the Pacific this information is for you.
The good news: California as a whole enjoyed its best dry-weather beach water quality on record in 2007-08. During the high-traffic summer beach going season, 93% of beaches statewide received A or B grades, meaning very good to excellent water quality. That figure marks an 8% improvement from the previous summer.
The bad news: For the third straight year, Los Angeles County had the worst overall beach water quality in the state, including five of the 10 lowest-rated beaches in the survey. There continues to be a great divide between water quality in dry weather vs. wet weather. This year, 46% of monitoring locations statewide received fair-to-poor grades during wet weather, with 26% receiving failing grades. Dry weather conditions differ from rainy weather in that when it rains all kinds of ick washes to the ocean through the storm drains.
What to do if your beach is skuzzy? "County health officials and Heal the Bay recommend that beach users never swim within 100 yards of any flowing storm drain, or in any coastal water during a rainstorm, and for at least three days after a storm has ended. Storm drain runoff is the greatest source of pollution to local beaches, flowing untreated to the coast and often contaminated with motor oil, animal waste, pesticides, yard waste and trash. After a rain, indicator bacteria densities usually far exceed state health criteria for recreational water use."
"Heal the Bay believes the public has the right to know the water quality at their favorite beaches as soon as possible, and is proud to provide Californians this information in an easy-to-understand format. We hope that beachgoers will use this information to make the decisions necessary to protect their health," says HTB.
Can you guess which beach takes the "Beach Bummer" crown, for being the most polluted? Shockingly, it's Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island. Whoa, make you re-think paradise.
For the full list of "Beach Bummers," to read more about this year's results and for more on the beach report card program, check out Heal the Bay.
About this blog
Roxanne Kotzman is a Daily News Photo Department veteran of nine years. When she and longtime friend Stacy Long
discovered their love all of all things environmentally responsible, they launched Happy Monkey Planet and jumped head-first into the vibrant eco-community.
Wow, so much to learn! But initially the idea is a pretty simple one: Let's change the world through information, education and action.
Rox & Stacy are a lot like you: ecologically minded but sometimes just plain overwhelmed when charged with the task of making a far-reaching difference in the environment. They have jobs, families, homes, lives and pets.
But what if doing better was a simple as a light-bulb change, a reusable canvas grocery bag, recycling that soda can or a cold-water wash?
These eco-chicks just hope to have a little fun, learn a little more, share a lot of information and maybe make the planet a happier, greener, cleaner place.
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