Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card is the only comprehensive analysis of California water quality done by any organization. We provide water quality information statewide for over 400 beaches in an easy-to-understand format (A-F letter grades). The Report Cards are also available via print (please contact our office).

The Beach Report Card is based on the routine monitoring of beaches conducted by local health agencies and dischargers. Water samples are analyzed for bacteria that indicate pollution from numerous sources, including fecal waste. The higher the grade a beach receives, the lower the risk of illness to ocean users. The report is not designed to measure the amount of trash or toxins found at California beaches. The Beach Report Card would not be possible without the cooperation of all of the shoreline monitoring agencies in the state. Heal the Bay believes the public has the right to know the water quality at their favorite beaches, and is proud to provide Californians this information in an easy-to-understand format.

The first Beach Report Card that Heal the Bay published in 1990 covered 60-plus monitoring locations in Los Angeles County from Leo Carrillo Beach to Cabrillo Beach. At the time, beachgoers knew little about the health risks of swimming in polluted waters or the water quality at any of their favorite beaches in Los Angeles County. Beach water quality was a public issue only when a substantial sewage spill occurred. Although beaches were routinely monitored, the data was either largely inaccessible or unusable to the public. Since then, much work has been done to address the issue of urban runoff and sewage spills at our local beaches. Scientific studies such as the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project's Epidemiological Study on swimmers at runoff polluted beaches and the Southern California Coastal Waters Research Project's bight-wide shoreline bacteria and laboratory inter-calibration study have been completed. Legislation, such as the statewide beach bathing water standards and public notification bill (AB411), and the protocol for identifying sources of fecal indicator bacteria at high-use beaches that are impacted by flowing storm drains (AB538) have been passed and implemented. Capital developments, such as the upgrade of the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, dry weather diversions, and Clean Beach Initiative projects have been constructed. In this same time period, Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card has grown in coverage, expanding from Los Angeles County to all of California (where monitoring programs exist), and is now essential reading for the beachgoing public.

The BRC now covers over 400 locations (450-plus under certain conditions) from Humboldt County to San Diego County on a weekly basis, updated every Friday. Heal the Bay hopes that California beachgoers will use the information before they go to any beach in the state, in order to better protect their health and the health of their families. The weekly California BRC is be available in print and at Heal the Bay’s web site, www.healthebay.org. The Report Card should be used like the SPF ratings in sunblock – beachgoers should determine what they are comfortable with in terms of relative risk, and then make the necessary decisions to protect their health.