Bay Watch: Santa Monica Beach Gets High Grades for Summer

By Jorge Casuso

Santa Monica beach received high grades for water quality this summer, according to a report released Wednesday by Heal the Bay, and City officials say the results may be due to recent measures to keep trash out of storm drains.

Six of the eight Santa Monica locations monitored by the non profit group between May 1 and September 30 received "A's," with one location getting an "A+." The municipal pier and the Pico/Kenter storm drain both received "B's."

"That's excellent," said James Alamillo, beach report card manager for Heal the Bay.

Alamillo attributes the lower grades at the pier to a higher concentration of people visiting and fishing there. Visitors to the pier often throw out uneaten food, which attracts birds, who eat the scraps and defecate in the water, Alamillo said.

Those fishing off the pier often gut their catch and throw it in the water, or dump bait. "There are signs that that can be the source of bacteria production," Alamillo said.

Alamillo attributes the overall high grades to the City's dry weather diversion program instituted in 1996. The program takes flow that normally comes to the pier and the Pico/Kenter storm drains and transfers it to the Hyperion sewage plant.

"It's not so much the runoff coming off the pier, but the runoff that comes to the pier (from nearby downtown streets) that's being diverted," Alamillo said. "That's why it's been clean compared with prior years."

Neal Shapiro, the City's urban runoff manager, says that the diversion program cannot entirely account for the sudden increase in water quality.

"It could be the diversion, but previous years we had the diversion and it (the grade) was lower," Shapiro said

Instead, Shapiro attributes the high grades to the installation last winter of screens in 485, or about half, of the City's catch basins. The screens prevent trash from going into the ocean, he said.

Shapiro said the City also installed Continuous Deflective Separation (CDS) units at three locations in the City's storm drain system -- the pier, Pico/Kenter and the City Yards.

The Australian-made product -- which is placed within the storm drain pipes -- changes the direction of the water flow so that floatables and solids can be removed.

Shapiro also thinks the public may have made a difference. "Maybe people are doing a better job not dumping stuff in storm drains," he said.

Water quality in the summer is usually higher than it is at the beginning or end of the year because there is little or no rain to drive debris into the ocean, Alamillo said. Heal the Bay, however, did not monitor Santa Monica beach locations during previous summers, giving report cards only on an annual basis.

In Heal the Bay's annual reports for Santa Monica, the pier has received an "F" every year since 1994-95, while the Pico/Kenter Storm Drain received an "F that year, followed by "C's" and "D's."

This summer, the Santa Monica locations that received "A's" were the projections at San Vicente Boulevard, Montana Avenue, Arizona Avenue, Strand Street and Ashland Avenue 50 yards south of the drain. The water quality received an "A+" 50 yards north of Ashland.

Although all eight Santa Monica locations were safe for swimming this summer, there were a number of beach locations in Los Angeles County that were often unsafe, according to the report.

They were Surfrider Beach and Big Rock Beach in Malibu, Will Rogers Beach at Santa Monica Canyon and a long stretch of Long Beach City Beach from 3rd Place to 54th Place (except Molino Av. and Coronado Av.).

"Three locations that parents, or for that matter any swimmer, should consider avoiding are Mothers' Beach in Marina del Rey, Cabrillo Beach on the harbor side or Avalon Beach on Catalina Island," the report said. "Similar to Kiddie Beach in Ventura County, these locations all suffer from a lack of tidal circulation which can allow fecal pollution to linger for days at a time with no tidal flushing."

But Heal the Bay also had some good news.

"The great news for beachgoers this summer was that there were zero sewage spills that led to beach closures," the report said. "Other good news was that it appears that the dry-weather runoff diversions are working as the Bel Air Bay Club, S.M. Pier/Pico-Kenter, Ashland Av., Brooks Av., Herondo and Alamitos Bay beaches all had very good to excellent water quality."

Heal the Bay's report card covers over 260 monitoring locations from Santa Barbara County down to Orange County. This summer, the area was expanded to include San Diego County's monitoring data, which added 113 monitoring locations to the overall coverage.

The summer Beach Report Card is based on weekly water quality monitoring data provided by over 15 different dischargers and health agencies throughout Southern California.

According to the report, "the overall quality of water at Southern California beaches this summer was good. Of the 373 water quality monitoring locations throughout Southern California, 295 locations (79%) received very good-to-excellent water quality marks (257 "A's" and 38 "B's").

"There were 78 locations (21%) that received fair-to-poor water quality marks (34 "C's," 17 "D's" and 27 "F's"). The percentage of beaches (not including San Diego) that received very good-to-excellent grades was down 7% compared to last summer's."

The report reminds beach goers not to swim or surf within 100 yards of any flowing storm drain and for three days after a rainstorm. "After a rain, indicator bacteria counts at beaches throughout Southern California usually far exceed health criteria stipulated in the state's Beach Closure and Health Warning Protocol," according to the report.

A fact sheet detailing the exact methodology used in determining grades for each location is available from the Heal the Bay office or on the web site.

Heal the Bay is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to making Santa Monica Bay and Southern California coastal waters safe and healthy again for people and marine life.