More Bad News for Beachgoers

Los Angeles County beaches again won dubious recognition Wednesday for their Jekyll and Hyde personalities: mainly clean and inviting when the weather is dry, nasty and sickening when the weather is wet.

Fortunately for the surfers, swimmers and divers who took the plunge over the past year, the weather was mostly dry. As a result, 70 of the 87 Los Angeles County beach sites tested in rainless periods earned good to excellent marks for water quality, according to an annual report card released Wednesday by the environmental group Heal the Bay.

But water quality plummeted when rains washed motor oil, animal feces, pesticides and trash off the land, down storm drains and out to sea. During and for several days after wet weather last year, 65 beach locations earned failing grades that reflect an increased health risk for swimmers, said Heal the Bay.

“What this tells us is that we have a major storm water pollution problem,” said Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay. “People go to the beaches 365 days a year, rain or shine. We’re not doing what we need to to make these beaches clean.”

This most recent report card evaluated more than 250 beaches in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties. Next year, the report card will include beaches in San Diego County.

Heal the Bay has been rating Southern California beaches for 10 years, based on levels of fecal bacteria found in ankle-deep beach water. The report card assigns each beach a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F, indicating water qualities considered excellent, good, fair, poor or failing. Potential health risks vary depending on exposure, but can include stomach flu, ear infection, upper respiratory infection and major skin rash.

The report featured a “Beach Bummer” list of Southern California’s 10 lowest-rated coastal spots in dry weather. The Kiddie Beach at Channel Islands Harbor Beach Park in Oxnard topped that unhappy list. The others, in descending order, were: Cabrillo Beach, harbor side of the lifeguard tower, San Pedro; Arroyo Quemada, north of Santa Barbara; Avalon Beach, under the pier, Santa Catalina Island; San Juan Creek interface, Dana Point; Doheny Beach, south of San Juan Creek, Dana Point; North Doheny Beach, Dana Point; East Beach at Mission Creek, Santa Barbara; Jalama Beach at Jalama Creek, north of Santa Barbara; Surfrider Beach, at the breach, Malibu.

During dry weather in Los Angeles County, consistently healthy stretches of shore included parts of the Venice city beaches, Dockweiler Beach, Long Beach city beach and Alamitos Bay. But Los Angeles County led the region in volume of sewage spills--more than 2 million gallons of raw waste hit the local waters in 16 spills between April 1999 and March 2000.

The results of Wednesday’s report card did not surprise Los Angeles County beach officials or regular beachgoers, who said that the beaches with problems are often those that have heavy boat traffic and inadequate water circulation. The harbor side of Cabrillo Beach, where rock jetties and breakwaters keep fresh water from circulating along the shore, was a prime example, they said.

On Wednesday morning, as Heal the Bay prepared to unveil its report card at Cabrillo Beach, county health officials had posted that harbor shoreline with warning signs.

“Bacteria levels exceed health standards,” signs said in English and Spanish. “Ocean water contact may cause illness.”

Even with the signs and the commotion of a news conference nearby, scores of people, mostly visiting schoolchildren, ran and played in the water.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, and it’s always been kind of polluted,” said Eric Haase, 29, a San Pedro tattoo artist. As he spoke, Haase’s 1-year-old daughter, Kathleen, sat beside him at surf’s edge, squeezing sand between her fingers and kicking her stockinged feet in the water.

“I thought twice about bringing here here, but she just wanted to splash around,” her father said. “I just have to make sure she doesn’t eat stuff.”

Ken Johnson, chief of community services at the county’s Department of Beaches and Harbors, said there was little his agency could do to prevent harmful substances from being washed onto beaches during wet weather.

“We’re not the donors, really, we’re the donees,” Johnson said.

Though Los Angeles County had the largest volume of spilled sewage, Orange County had the most spills--there were 31, releasing 89,480 gallons between April 1999 and March 2000. Ventura County had six spills totaling 28,450 gallons, plus a 1.7-million-gallon spill of partially treated sewage. Santa Barbara County had no sewage spills.

Heal the Bay made several recommendations for the coming year, including:

* Using structural additions such as gates and tidal channels to clean up chronic pollution at enclosed beaches, such as Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey, that have poor tidal flushing--or closing those beaches.

* Urging cities and counties to implement storm water diversion projects to treat bacteria-laden water before it is released into the ocean.

* Expanding media coverage of Heal the Bay’s beach report cards, including Spanish-language media.

* Advocating year-round monitoring at popular beaches; state law currently requires monitoring between April and October.

* Making monitoring data consistent among counties.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

L.A. County Beach Report Card

Here is Heal the Bay’s listing of Los Angeles County beaches and their water quality ratings last year in dry and wet weather conditions. The grades reflect levels of fecal bacteria in ankle-deep water. An A+ grade represents the cleanest level and F the worst.

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DRY WET Leo Carrillo Beach A C Nicholas Beach, 33 yards west of lifeguard tower A F Broad Beach A F Trancas Beach entrance A D Westward Beach A F Paradise Cove A F Latigo Canyon Creek entrance B F Corral Beach A F Surfrider Beach, at Malibu Colony fence A F Surfrider Beach (second point), weekly D F Surfrider Beach (breach location), daily F F Malibu Pier, 50 yards east B F Big Rock Beach D F Topanga State Beach A F Will Rogers State Beach, A F Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset Blvd. 400 yards east Will Rogers State Beach, east to Bel Air Bay Club A F Will Rogers State Beach, A F Pulga Canyon storm drain 50 yards east Will Rogers State Beach, Temescal Canyon B Will Rogers State Beach, Santa Monica Canyon D F Santa Monica Beach, projection of San Vicente Blvd. A F Santa Monica Beach, projection of Montana Ave. A F Santa Monica Beach, projection of Arizona Ave. A F Santa Monica Municipal Pier, 50 yards south D F Santa Monica Beach, at Pico/Kenter storm drain, B F 50 yards south Santa Monica Beach, projection of Strand St. A F Ocean Park Beach, projection of Ashland Ave., C F 50 yards north Ocean Park Beach, projection of Ashland Ave., B F 50 yards south Venice Beach, projection of Brooks Ave. A F Venice Beach, projection of Windward Ave. 50 yards north A C Venice Fishing Pier, 50 yards south A C Venice Beach, projection of Topsail St. A F Mother’s Beach, Marina del Rey, playground D F Mother’s Beach, Marina del Rey, south end of swim area D F Mother’s Beach-Marina del Rey, north end of swim area C F Basin H, boat launch, Marina del Rey F F Dockweiler State Beach, 50 yards south of Ballona Creek B F Dockweiler State Beach, projection of Culver Blvd. A F Dockweiler State Beach, south of D&W; jetty A F Dockweiler State Beach, projection of Imperial Hwy. A F 50 yards north Dockweiler State Beach, opposite Hyperion B D Sewage Treatment Plant Dockweiler State Beach, projection of Grand Ave. B F Manhattan Beach, projection of 40th St. A A Manhattan Beach Pier, 50 yards south A C Hermosa City Beach, projection of 26th St. A+ B Hermosa Beach Pier, 50 yards south A B Herondo Street storm drain, 50 yards north A F Redondo Municipal Pier, 50 yards south B C Redondo Beach, projection of Topaz St. north of jetty A B Redondo Beach, projection of Avenue I A D Malaga Cove, Palos Verdes Estates, daily A B Malaga Cove, Palos Verdes Estates, weekly A+ A Palos Verdes (Bluff) Cove, Palos Verdes Estates A+ A+ Long Point, Rancho Palos Verdes A A Abalone Cove Shoreline Park A+ A+ Portuguese Bend Cove, Rancho Palos Verdes A A Royal Palms State Beach A B Wilder Annex, San Pedro A A Cabrillo Beach, oceanside A B Cabrillo Beach, harbor side at boat launch F F Cabrillo Beach, harbor side at lifeguard tower C F Avalon Beach, btwn. Tuna Club and Busy Bee Restaurant C A+ Avalon Beach, next to Busy Bee Restaurant A F Avalon Beach, 50 yards north of pier C F Avalon Beach, underneath pier F F Avalon Beach, 50 yards south of pier A F Avalon Beach, south end A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 3rd Pl. F F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 5th Pl. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 10th Pl. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 16th Pl. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of Molino Ave. C F Long Beach City Beach, projection of Coronado Ave. A F Belmont Pier, west side B F Belmont Pier, middle A F Belmont Pier, east side B F Long Beach City Beach, projection of Prospect Ave. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of Granada Ave. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 54th Pl. B F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 55th Pl. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 62nd Pl. A F Long Beach City Beach, projection of 72nd Pl. A F Alamitos Bay, 56th Pl. A F Alamitos Bay, 1st and Bayshore A F Alamitos Bay, Shorefloat A F Alamitos Bay, Mothers’ Beach, Los Cerritos Channel A+ F Alamitos Bay, 2nd St. Bridge and Bayshore B F

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Source: Heal the Bay