Santa Monica Beaches Get Mixed Grades

By Jorge Casuso

May 27 -- If not for a broken pump and an unexplained anomaly, Santa Monica beaches would have received good to excellent grades for water quality during dry weather, according to a report released Tuesday by Heal the Bay.

The group’s Annual Beach Report Card gave As and Bs to four of Santa Monica’s six beach areas, including the pier, during dry weather from April to October 2003. But the stretches of beach near the Arizona Avenue and the Pico/Kentor storm drains dropped to Cs from the previous year.

“The biggest water quality problem is at the beach right in front of Pico,” said Mark Gold, the executive director of Heal the Bay.

While Gold isn’t sure what accounted for the C grade at Arizona Avenue, which is "normally not very polluted," the low grade at Pico was blamed on failures last summer at the Pico pump that feeds the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility near the foot of the pier, according to the report.

In addition, there was “miscommunication between the City of Santa Monica and L.A. County (that) led to runoff flows being discharged to the beach,” the report said.

“They had problems with the pump, which was shut down, and the overflow pipe collapsed,” Gold said. “There was pooling and ponding on the beach.”

Los Angeles County has replaced the overflow pipe, a short term solution to protect the beach water quality during the summer, and has already “reconfigured the beach,” according to the report.

Heal the Bay is also actively working with the City and County to find a solution to the “ongoing problem,” the report said.

The C was the lowest grade registered at the Pico/Kenter storm drain since the City’s treatment plant was opened three years ago.

On the other hand, water quality at the storm drain near the pier jumped from a C the previous year to a B, the highest grade ever registered near the prime visitor destination.

“For the pier, it was excellent,” Gold said.

Water quality at the Strand Street and at the Ashland Avenue storm drains in Ocean Park received As, as did the water at the storm drain at Montana Avenue, in the north side of the City.

The Ashland storm drain, which is “historically very polluted,” was helped by dry weather runoff diversion to the sewer system that began linking to the Hyperion treatment plant in 2000, Gold said.

In general, Santa Monica Bay scored higher grades than usual, but the grades at Long Beach dropped, resulting in an average year for the county as a whole.

The County’s worst dry weather beaches this year once again included Malibu Surfrider Beach, Malibu Point and Cabrillo Beach harborside at the lifeguard tower, beaches with perennial water quality problems, according to the report.

Surfrider Beach, located at the outlet of Malibu Creek and Lagoon, received an F grade, wrestling away the title of the County’s most polluted beach from Cabrillo Beach harborside, the report said.

Heal the Bay warns that the Malibu Lagoon sand-bar is breached and “water contact at Surfrider Beach is likely to cause illness, and should be avoided.”

Water quality at Santa Monica Canyon jumped from a D to a C, thanks to the County’s completion of the diversion at Will Rogers Beach, the report said.

The diversion benefitted beachgoers during the summer and “made a substantial difference in water quality.”

Just south of the Santa Monica border, the Venice City Beach at Brooks Avenue slipped to a B, according to the report.

As with most beaches, those in Santa Monica scored failing grades during wet weather conditions between November and March. While Montana Avenue received a B, the Pier and Strand Street got Ds, and Arizona Avenue, Ashland Avenue and Pico all got Fs.

The Beach Report Card is based on the routine monitoring of beaches conducted by local health agencies and dischargers. Water samples are analyzed for bacteria that indicate pollution from numerous sources, including fecal waste.

County health officials and Heal the Bay recommend that beach users never swim within 100 yards of any flowing storm drain, or in any coastal water during a rainstorm, and for three days after a storm has ended.

“Storm drain runoff can be the greatest source of pollution to local beaches, flowing untreated to the coast and often contaminated with motor oil, animal waste, pesticides, yard waste and trash,” according to the report.

“After a rain, indicator bacteria counts usually far exceed state health criteria for recreational water use.”

The 2003-04 Annual Beach Report Card