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California
Beaches
The overall dry weather water quality at California
beaches this year was very good. Of the 300 year round
water quality monitoring locations throughout California,
253, or 85%, of the locations received good-to-excellent
water quality marks (A or B) during dry weather (see
Table 1 and Table 2). Since the BRC expanded beyond
Los
Angeles
County four years ago, this year's 85% ranks as the
best year to date for California beaches. The improved
water quality could be attributed to the implementation
of a number of dry weather diversions implemented
and
Clean Beach Initiative projects. There were 45 locations
that received fair-to-poor water quality marks. The
results demonstrate that, for 2002-2003, the data during
the summer was similar to the year-round dry weather
results.
Numerous
California beaches vied for the "Beach Bummer" crown
this year (the monitoring location with the poorest
dry weather water quality). The 10 finalists were: Malibu's
Surfrider Beach in Los Angeles County (10th), East Beach
at Mission Creek in Santa Barbara County (9th), Capitola
Beach, west of the jetty in Santa Cruz County (8th),
Cabrillo Beach, harborside at the lifeguard tower in
Los Angeles County (7th), Campbell Cove State Park Beach
at Bodega Bay in Sonoma County (6th), Channel Island
Harbor Beach Park at Hobie Beach in Ventura County (5th),
Baby Beach at Dana Point Harbor in Orange County (4th),
Pacific Beach at P.B. Point (downcoast of Linda Way)
in San Diego County (3rd), and the Visitor's Center
(projection of Clairemont Drive) and Campland on the
Bay at Mission Bay in San Diego County (2nd). For the
second year in a row, the winner of the dubious California
"Beach Bummer" crown as the most polluted beach in the
state: Doheny Beach from North Beach to Poche Beach
in Orange County. Doheny Beach was awarded the crown
based on the beach area degraded (over a two-mile stretch
of beach) by poor water quality and the number of annual
visitors to the beach.
The
perpetual disparity between dry and wet weather
grades
continues to be dramatic. This drastic difference in
water quality is why Heal the Bay and public health
agencies continue to recommend that no one swim in
the ocean during, and for at least three days after,
a significant
rainstorm. Very few beach locations in California escape
the influence of polluted stormwater runoff. This
was
an average wet weather season, yet wet water quality
plummeted with 63% of the monitoring locations
receiving
a grade of F (see Table 1 and Table 2). In addition,
this was the worst year for wet weather water quality,
with
183
locations
receiving F grades compared to the four-year average
of 161. Any improvements in wet weather water quality
witnessed at a specific location over the past four
years have been likely due to the lack of rainfall
rather
than
any
capital
improvements or effective storm water management programs.
To date, there have been no major efforts along
the
coast targeting reductions in fecal bacteria densities
from storm water.
Heal
the Bay strongly commends the many agencies that continued
their monitoring programs beyond the AB411 required
dates of April through October. This action provided
approximately 20 additional weeks of water sampling,
which meant beachgoers, particularly surfers going out
for the winter swells, could continue receiving information
about water quality in order to make better health risk
decisions about which beaches to visit.
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