By Lookout Staff

June 30, 2010 -- A celebration took place on Monday at the pier at Paradise Cove Beach in nearby Malibu to celebrate the installation of a storm water treatment facility that is expected to greatly curb the pollution of an area regularly regarded as one of Santa Monica Bay’s worst beaches in terms of water quality.

Nearly 100 people attended the event, including City Council member and recently appointed California Coastal Commissioner Richard Bloom as well as Mark Gold, who heads Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay, the water quality watchdog that informs people about the condition of beaches in its annual and weekly report cards.

“This is arguably one of the most beautiful spots in all of Santa Monica Bay,” Gold said. “I’ve always thought so myself. And obviously the beauty has been skin deep for some time from the standpoint of something that looks this beautiful has unfortunately had a very poor water quality for well over a decade on Heal the Bay’s beach report card.”

The $1 million facility was funded by the City of Malibu and Proposition 40 Clean Beach Initiative State grant money. The facility will capture, clean and disinfect nearly 1 million gallons of storm water per day. It will be able to handle all but the most severe rain storms, Gold said. The introduction of this system comes shortly after the installation of a new sewage treatment plant at Paradise Cove.

For many years, Paradise Cove regularly appeared on the Beach Bummer List, which shows 10 worst performing beaches according to Heal the Bay’s annual report card. Gold said he expects the beach to receive straight As with the storm water facility in place.

The recent Beach Bummer List included the Santa Monica Pier in fifth place, a repeat performance from the previous year. This was actually an improvement from 2008 when it was ranked second. Heal the Bay noted in its report card information 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. It also included the construction of a pump to divert dry weather runoff.