SoCal Beach Water Quality report has been released

Heal the Bay's newly released Beach Report Card for summertime water quality, which looked at more than 450 beaches along California's 1,100-mile coastline.


Excluding Long Beach and a number of beaches in the northern part of Los Angeles County, statewide water quality at California beaches this past summer was good, with 91% receiving A and B grades. In fact, most of the California coastline earned “A” grades, including San Diego, Ventura County, San Luis Obispo County, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Francisco, Sonoma and Humboldt counties.

Santa Barbara County beaches saw a marked decline from last year.

Orange County saw 90% of its monitored beaches receive an A grade, with surprisingly good water quality seen at multiple Doheny Beach locations this summer.

Los Angeles County - The Worst
Overall statewide water quality at California beaches this past summer was good. However, Los Angeles County once again had the worst beach water quality in the state.


Proposition 84 — A Critical Statewide Measure

Los Angeles County's poor summer grades makes Proposition 84 a critical measure on the November 7, 2006 ballot. Endorsed by Heal the Bay, Prop 84's $5.4 billion will help solve some of California’s worst water quality problems and it’s the first proposition in the nation to provide dedicated funds—$540 million—to help maintain the health of our California's coastal waters. $180 million specifically will go towards cleaning up coastal storm water and beach pollution, and $225 million to clean up the Santa Monica, San Diego, San Francisco and Monterey bays, watersheds, and major rivers that drain into those bays.

The nonprofit environmental group, based in Santa Monica, gathers and interprets data on beach water quality as a public service. It issues the summertime survey and a more comprehensive annual report card, both of which are widely praised as accurate by public-health officials.