Long Beach water continues to show improvements

Southern California beach-goers heading to the shore this summer have an unusual force to thank in part for improved water quality— historic drought.
With record low rainfall reducing the amount of polluted runoff funneled into the seas, water quality improved yet again at Los Angeles County beaches last year, according to Heal the Bay’s 25th annual Beach Report Card, which the environmental group released this week.
Heal the Bay analysts assigned A-to-F letter grades to 92 beaches in L.A. County for three reporting periods in the 2014-2015 report, based on levels of weekly bacterial pollution. Some 94 percent of beaches received A or B grades for the high-traffic summer period (April to October 2014), a 4-percent improvement from last year’s grades. The 94-percent figure also marks a 10-percent gain from the county’s summer average for the previous five years.
While ongoing drought plays a significant role in improved grades, storm-drain diversions and other enhanced infrastructure also have paid dividends at chronically troubled beaches. Popular but historically failing beaches at Avalon Harbor in Catalina and Doheny Beach in Orange County, for example, now regularly receive A or B grades because of multi-million dollar investment in pollution-abatement measures, according to Heal the Bay.

While the news is encouraging, Los Angeles County still leads the state in the number of beaches with poor water quality. Overall, one in 13 L.A. County beaches received grades of C or lower during the busy summer season. The news is worse during wet weather, when nearly half of the beaches received an F grade. The growing public health risk is troubling for the region’s sizeable number of year-round surfers, divers and other ocean-users, according to the organization.
According to the report, Long Beach continues to show improved beach-water quality.
L.A. County is home to three of the 10 locales listed on Heal the Bay’s annual Beach Bummer List, which ranks the most polluted beaches in the state. Mothers Beach in Marina del Rey and Cabrillo Beach harborside in San Pedro, both enclosed sites with poor circulation, came in at No. 2 and 9 on the Bummer List, respectively. The beach at Santa Monica Pier, which has grappled with poor water quality for years despite numerous remediation projects, entered the list at No. 6.
Source: Heal the Bay