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By Lookout Staff
May 25 -- Aided by record-low rainfall, most Santa
Monica beaches earned an A for water quality from Heal the
Bay, though the chronically dirty stretch around the pier
was one of the ten most polluted spots along the California
coast, earning an F, according to the group’s 2006-2007
Annual California Beach Report Card.
While seven of California's ten most polluted beaches were
in Los Angeles County, four of Santa Monica’s six beaches
received an A in the report, which was released by the Santa
Monica-based non-profit this week
Top grades were given to Santa Monica Beach at Ashland Avenue,
Strand Street, the PicoBoulevard/Kenter storm drain and Wilshire
Boulevard. Rose Avenue in Venice Beach just south of the Santa
Monica border also received an A.
Santa Monica Beach at Montana Avenue received a C, while
the area around the pier flunked, earning the 6th lowest grade
in the state and making it a top candidate for the “Beach
Bummer” crown.
The pier’s F grade was in large part the result of
a decaying drain that carries runoff from the thriving Downtown
business district, according to City and Heal the Bay officials.
The leaky stormdrain line -- which doesn’t reach the
surf -- contributed to high levels of bacterial pollution
that made the water around the pier unsafe for swimming, City
officials have said. The polluted water ponds underneath the
pier.
The City has begun taking measures to address the problem,
according to the report. They include filling the pond with
sand and putting in place a diversion project to funnel dry-weather
runoff into the sewer
The City also plans to use money from Measure V – a
parcel tax approved by voters last November that should funnel
$2.3 million a year for stormwater projects -- for a watershed
management plan that would make improvements to the pier storm
drain a key priority.
Contributing to the perfect marks along most of Santa Monica’s
shoreline were new diversion systems that divert the flow
of stormwater into the sewer system instead of the ocean.
They include a $3 million diversion system between Wilshire
Boulevard and Montana Avenue, and a diversion system at Pico
that siphons the polluted water from the Pico-Cantor storm
drain to the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility
(SMRRF), which is located near the pier.
Heal the Bay’s report card -- which grades more than
450 monitoring locations from Humboldt County to San Diego
County -- found that, once again, Los Angeles has the worst
beach quality grades in the state.
The worst water quality in Los Angeles County was measured
in Long Beach, where 14 sites saw a dramatic drop in water
quality from last year, according to the report.
Other L.A. County beaches that received low marks were Castle
Rock Beach near Topanga and Surfrider and Marie Canyon beaches,
in and near Malibu.
The report card is based on the routine monitoring of beaches
by local health agencies and discharges collected between
Memorial Day on May 29 and September 30.
For the full report visit Heal
The Bay
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