Heal the Bay: Wet winter polluted the water for Southern California beaches

The wet winter may have spelled good news for California’s drinking water supply. But historic rainfall took a heavy toll on ocean quality throughout the state, according to Heal the Bay’s Annual Beach Report Card released Wednesday, June 14.

The nonprofit environmental group’s “Honor Roll,” reserved for beaches with perfect water quality all year, dropped from 51 sites last year to just two beaches this year. Only one Southern California beach made that list, with clean water year round near Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego. The other honoree was Bean Hollow State Beach in San Mateo County.

Southern California also nabbed three spots on Heal the Bay’s “Beach Bummer” list, which covers the state’s 10 most polluted beaches. Santa Monica Pier tied with a beach over the border, in Baja California, for the No. 1 most polluted beach. Rounding out the top 10 were Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey and Poche Beach, which straddles Dana Point and San Clemente.

For details, see: List of LA and OC beaches graded by Heal the Bay

Regulators in each area say they’re working to address the pollution problems, with different sources of high bacteria levels suspected in each local case.

“The great news is that during the summer season, rates are very good — even a little bit better than last year,” said Luke Ginger, a water quality scientist with Heal the Bay who heads up the study. “Most beaches are clean most of the time.”

The report assigns A-to-F letter grades to 500 California beaches based on routine testing for fecal matter bacteria. This year, 95% of California’s beaches received scores of As and Bs during dry summer days, when they’re used the most, compared with a summer score of 94% last year.

But while at least 60% of beaches statewide typically still score As and Bs even during rainy conditions, just 56% of them made that grade this time around. And even during the past year’s drier winter spells, just 83% of beaches earned above a C for clean water vs. the average of around 90%.

Most of the dip in water quality appears linked to runoff and sewage problems triggered by a 50% jump in statewide rainfall, Ginger said.

But he said there are things regulators can do to reduce particular sources of pollution and to lower contamination risks during extreme weather events, which are becoming more common as climate change worsens.

He also said there are steps all Southern Californians can take to stay safe before heading to their favorite local beach or swimming hole, with some local rivers also ranked for water quality.

Sewage woes to blame

Conventional wisdom says water quality at beaches gets worse after drought-riddled areas experience their first heavy rains, as months or years of accumulated gunk is washed out to sea. But while there’s clearly a “first flush” phenomenon with trash, where accumulated litter washes into rivers and beaches, Ginger said that’s not necessarily true when it comes to fluctuations in bacteria levels.

Instead, he said bacteria concentrations get significantly worse anytime we have heavy rains, whether it’s been a while or not. And he pointed to ongoing research from Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, a public research institution based in Costa Mesa, for one possible explanation.

The group’s research suggests our sewage infrastructure is likely always leaking a bit somewhere, Ginger said, with work underway at the institution to better detect and measure small leaks in underground pipes and other potential sources of fecal contamination. Anytime it rains, that steadily leaking contamination washes out to sea. That’s why health officials generally recommend staying out of the water for a few days after significant storms.

When it rains in excess, as it did this winter, Ginger said that can cause even bigger problems in the form of overflowing sewage pipes, with a record-setting volume of sewage spilling into waters off the California coast over the past year.

While Los Angeles and Orange counties actually saw fewer sewage leaks this cycle, Ginger said massive spills into San Diego Bay and into Ventura County’s San Antonio Creek contributed to some 45 million gallons of sewage reaching California beaches. That figure dwarfed last year’s already “eye popping” figure of 29 million gallons of leaked sewage, Ginger said, raising concerns about a need for more upgrades and safety rails around our sewer infrastructure.

“Sewage spills usually result from a major piece of infrastructure failing,” Ginger said, pointing at a 13 million-gallon spill from the Hyperion Reclamation Plant in Los Angeles in 2021. “So we call on local governments to invest more in sewage infrastructure, inspection and repair.”

His organization also wants water management agencies in non-coastal communities to step up efforts to collect and treat runoff before it makes its way to the ocean, and for residents to do their part to prevent trash and other contaminants from getting into storm water systems in the first place.

Local problems and solutions

As for local beaches that made Heal the Bay’s “bummer” list, Ginger pointed at a range of potential causes and possible solutions.

The Santa Monica Pier regularly landed among the top 10 most polluted beaches until 2018, when the city installed a storm water capture system to stop polluted runoff from reaching the sea. Water quality improved for several years. But last year the beach was back on the report card’s naughty list and it earned straight Fs again this year.

Santa Monica city officials believe the recent issues are related to the high number of seabirds that gather on and under the pier. So the city is re-installing netting to help keep birds away, along with a trash removal device inside the large storm drain south of the pier at Pico Boulevard.

Bird netting is a pretty simple fix, Ginger noted, and one that’s proven effective in another local city.

The beach around San Clemente Pier had been on the Beach Bummer list several times, until three years ago. But after the city installed netting to keep its bird population at bay, Ginger said water quality improved. This year, that beach has an A for its summer score.

Birds also are being eyed as a key source of contamination at Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey, which has been on the Beach Bummer list eight of the past 11 years.

“Regrettably, the name Mother’s Beach is now synonymous with the term Beach Bummer,” the report states.

The popular beach sits enclosed within Marina del Rey, which means there’s very little wave action and water circulation. Ginger said local governments have invested lots of money trying to improve water quality there, including trying to catch rainwater and installing devices to boost circulation. So far, he said, nothing has worked.

Mother’s Beach also was closed for a few days in January due to a 64,000 gallon sewage spill caused by a clogged main sewer line. But after a Los Angeles County study last year suggested most fecal pollution at Mother’s Beach now comes from birds, the county is working on plans to add bird deterrants in the area.

Still, Ginger pointed at the high number of storm drain outfalls dotting the marina, saying, “I think a lot more can be done to improve water quality there.”

Poche Beach has appeared on Heal the Bay’s watch list four times in the past 11 years.

The culprit is a storm channel that collects polluted runoff and discharges directly into the surf zone along the Orange County-owned beach. More than a decade ago, the county partnered with the city of San Clemente to build a small, $3 million plant to treat runoff from the channel before it discharges to the ocean. But due to space and cost constraints, Shannon Widor, spokesperson for the county’s Public Works department, said the plant was only built to handle the low volume of flows that are typical during summer months when the beach is used the most. That means when high tides or heavy rainfall happens, Widor said they have to turn the plant off to avoid damage.

Repairs to that facility also posed problems last cycle. In October 2021, Widor said the UV treatment portion of the plant needed to be replaced. But supply chain delays meant the replacement system didn’t arrive until April 2022, when unexpected repairs of other components also were required.

That combination of repairs, high tides and heavy rains meant the plant operated only 138 days last year, treating less than half the volume of water it cleaned two years earlier.

The county is now in talks with San Clemente about potentially relocating the plant a bit further inland and building something larger, Widor said, so it won’t be affected by the tides and can handle higher water flows. San Clemente would be the lead agency on the proposed $7.2 million plant, with plans to send 160 millions gallons of treated water into the local recycled water system rather than discharging it into the ocean — if they can get grant funding to help cover costs, said David Rebensdorf, the city’s utilities director.

Capturing runoff water and using it to support habitat for wildlife or recreational space for residents — as Los Angeles County does with its Safe, Clean Water Program — was a top request from Heal the Bay, per Ginger. The change also is in line with recent recommendations from the Orange County Grand Jury, which said in a June 9 report that the county needs to do more to reduce reliance on imported water.

“We really think that needs to be how we address water quality,” Ginger said. “We shouldn’t be thinking at the level of those outfalls on the beach. We need to think a little further upstream, and look throughout a watershed to see where we can make improvements.”

Rivers have room for improvement, too

With the bigger picture of Southern California’s watershed in mind, Heal the Bay also releases an Annual River Report Card, which scores water quality in 35 freshwater recreation areas in Los Angeles County that eventually discharge into the ocean.

Unlike with beaches, where state regulations require regular monitoring, Ginger pointed out there’s no government-mandated water quality testing requirements for fecal pollution in freshwater sources. That includes popular swimming holes along the Santa Ana River, such as Paradise Beach in Riverside and all along Santa Ana River Regional Park.

“We don’t even have a baseline at some of the inland places,” Ginger said. “So it’s great to talk about water quality improvements. But when it comes to freshwater, we don’t even know where the problems are. Nobody’s checking.”

To help fill this gap, Heal the Bay five years ago started doing voluntary monitoring of some L.A. County rivers and compiling limited data gathered by some local agencies to produce its River Report Card.

Overall, the nonprofit found 65% of river and creek swim areas tested last summer presented little to no health risks, while 15% had moderate risks and 19% posed serious risks for anyone in contact with the water.

Nine of the 10 lowest scoring sites were in the Lower Los Angeles River Watershed, including the L.A. River at Riverfront Park and Compton Creek. Las Virgenes Creek in the Malibu Creek Watershed rounded out Heal the Bay’s list of “Freshwater Fails.” The report states that bacteria concentrations at these sites “were often 10 times higher than concentrations found anywhere else in L.A. County.”

On the other end of the spectrum, eight freshwater sites earned perfect scores, with no tests that exceeded safe levels of fecal pollution. All were in the San Gabriel River or Upper L.A. River watersheds.

A bill passed in 2021 requires state regulators to identify high-priority freshwater recreation sites across the state and to recommend an appropriate monitoring program, similar to the beach program, by the end of this year. That means more regular monitoring and public notification of water quality issues at some freshwater sights should be on the horizon.