California’s 2008 Beach Report Card Released
With the Memorial Day holiday weekend fast approaching, Heal the Bay has perfect timing for all of you beach-goers: they have just released their 18th Annual Beach Report Card, which grades the water quality at California’s beaches. And, as expected, there’s good news and bad news.
Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? Good news it is! California achieved its best “dry-weather” beach water quality since recording began. During last year’s summer season, 93% of beaches received an A or B grade, based on daily and weekly bacteria measurements taken from April, 2007 to March, 2008. That figure is up 8% from the prior year.
That is good news, at least until you learn that last year’s drought in SoCal contributed to this improvement. With less rainfall, the amount of urban runoff traveling through our storm drains and out into the ocean was reduced. Urban runoff consists of everything that hits the ground, from cigarette butts to plastic bottles to dog doo. Because of this disgusting stew, “wet-weather” results are not good, with 26% of beaches receiving F grades.
- » See also: Obsessed with the Magic of Chickens
- » Get EcoLocalizer by RSS or sign up by email.
What’s more, for the third straight year, Los Angeles County beaches had the worst overall beach water quality, including 5 of the worst 10 specific beaches in the state. Still it’s an improvement over last year, when LA County registered 7 of the 10 worst.
I know you’re curious, so here is this year’s bottom 10 (from worst to “least worst”):
- Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island (LA County)
- Santa Monica Municipal Pier (LA County)
- Poche Beach (Orange County)
- North Beach Doheny (Orange County)
- Marie Canyon Drain at Pureco Beach (LA County)
- Cabrillo Beach harborside (LA County)
- City of Long Beach - multiple locations (LA County)
- Campbell Cove State Park Beach (Sonoma County)
- Clam Beach County Park near Strawberry Creek (Humboldt County)
- Pismo Beach Pier (San Luis Obispo County)
An additional 14 beaches received F grades during dry-weather. Check out Heal the Bay’s website to find out if your local hot spot is one of them, and to see each beach’s most recent weekly grade for up-to-date information.
And as always, do your part to keep beach water quality high. Even if you live inland, your runoff still flows to the ocean, so remember: Only rain down the drain!
Image credit: RuthannOC at Flickr under a Creative Commons License
