By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

May 28, 2010 --Santa Monica locations made both the bad list and the good list in the annual Beach Report Card compiled by the water quality watchdog Heal the Bay. The Santa Monica Pier for the second consecutive year earned the distinction of having the fifth most-polluted beach in the California. Meanwhile, the beach near Strand Avenue in Ocean Park was placed on Heal the Bay’s Honor Roll.

This is the 20th edition of the Heal the Bay Report Card. It rates 450 beach locations throughout the state on a graded scale. The Santa Monica Pier received an F in all categories, including dry and wet weather periods. This placed it fifth on Heal the Bay’s Beach Bummer list, which includes the 10 most-polluted beaches in the state. The location has actually performed worse, earning a number two ranking two years ago. Despite the less than stellar performance for the pier, Heal the Bay noted in its report that Santa Monica is making efforts to reverse the situation.

“Although Santa Monica Pier is again on this year’s bummer list, the City of Santa Monica has been quite diligent in eliminating all possible sources of fecal bacteria contamination at the pier,” the report states.

The City last year replaced an old storm drain under the pier that had allowed polluted runoff to pond. The project was funded through money generated from Measure V, the water quality parcel tax narrowly approved by voters in 2006. It also included the construction of a pump to divert dry weather runoff to the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Reuse Facility (SMRF) for treatment. For more on the project, see (“Pipe Dream Takes Shape,” April 3, 2009)

Heal the Bay’s report applauded Santa Monica for taking other measures such as the installation of netting under the pier to keep pigeons and other birds from nesting and increasing fecal contamination. Also, UCLA has been hired to do a study to identify any remaining sources of fecal bacteria at the beach.

“To date, water quality at the beach south of the pier has improved dramatically over the last 2-3 months,” the report states.

“The beach even received dry weather weekly A grades for most of that time period. We hope this encouraging trend continues.”

Santa Monica earned several good marks. The beach near Strand Avenue was included on the Honor Roll, designated for beaches that do not exceed any bacterial standard levels during the dry season. All other beach locations measured for Santa Monica received either A or A+ marks during dry period measurements. However for year-round wet weather measurements, nearly all received Fs, with the exceptions being a C for the Strand Avenue point and a D for the drain at Montana Avenue.

Los Angeles County overall was the worst performing area in the state, being home to five locations on the Beach Bummer list, including Avalon Beach on Catalina Island topping the list for the second-consecutive year. But Heal the Bay said the County has shown signs of improvement.

“While Los Angeles still ranks at the bottom of statewide beach water quality, there is some good news. Some 79% of beaches earned A or B grades during dry weather, compared to a 70% tally in last year’s report,” Heal the Bay officials said in a statement.

There is some concern from Heal the Bay about the future of water quality testing being in jeopardy. Beginning next fiscal year, there is no guaranteed funding from Sacramento to do the testing.

“With 100 million people visiting beaches in the state each year, it’s simply not acceptable to fail to guarantee ongoing funding for water quality testing statewide,” said Heal the Bay President Mark Gold in a statement. “We realize lawmakers must prioritize in difficult economic times, but placing public health at risk by cutting back on testing is a bad move.”

Heal the Bay says it will work with State and local governments to ensure that ongoing funding is secured.

To view the Beach Report Card, go to http://www.healthebay.org/