|
California
Beaches
Summer dry weather water quality at California beaches
this past year was good, but saw a marked decline from the
year before. Of the 486 ocean water quality monitoring
locations throughout California, 425 (87%) received very
good-to-excellent water quality marks (A or B) for April
though October 2005 (AB411 time period) [Figure 1 and
2]. There were 61 (13%) monitoring locations that received
fair-to-poor water quality marks (C – F) during the same time period. The percentage of A or B grades for yearround dry weather was only slightly lower than those for summer dry weather. A list of all the grades can be found in Appendix B.
The disparity between dry and wet weather grades continues. 46% of monitoring locations received fair-to-poor grades during the wet weather season, with 27% of these locations receiving an F. This marked seasonal 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. Other than education programs, there have been no major efforts along the coast targeting reductions in fecal bacteria densities from stormwater.
California
“Beach Bummers”
Numerous California beaches vied for the “Beach Bummer” crown this year (the monitoring location with the poorest dry weather water quality). The five most polluted beaches in the state were all in LA County. The 10 worst were: Cabrillo Beach harborside at the lifeguard tower in Los Angeles County (10th), Topanga State Beach in Los Angeles County (9th), the Tijuana Rivermouth in San Diego County (8th), Doheny Beach in Orange County (7th), Pillar Point Harbor at
Capistrano Avenue Beach in San
Mateo County (6th), the Santa Monica
Municipal Pier (5th), Surfrider Beach
in Malibu (4th), Avalon Beach on
Catalina Island (3rd), and Will Rogers
State Beach at Chautauqua Blvd in Los
Angeles County (2nd). Multiple locations
in the north Santa Monica Bay
share the dubious honor of being
California’s worst “Beach Bummer” this year. As part of the Santa Monica Bay Beaches Bacteria TMDL, data was collected for the first time this past year from the wave wash directly at the outlet of 14 different storm drains or creeks. Four of these new sites exhibited horrendous water quality, with one of the sites, Escondido Creek just east of Escondido State Beach, having the worst grades in the state for both the AB411 and year-round dry weather time periods (95% of samples exceeded state bacterial standards). The other three most problematic new north Santa Monica Bay monitoring locations were: Castlerock Storm Drain at Castle Rock Beach, Marie Canyon storm drain at Puerco Beach, and the Santa Ynez Storm Drain at Castle Rock Beach.
Heal the Bay strongly commends those agencies that continue 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 and have the ability to make better health risk decisions concerning their favorite beaches. Year-round monitoring was particularly critical this year, as Southern California had the best winter swell in years.
|
