Beach Report Card - California Coastkeeper Alliance

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California’s Dry WeatherHonor RollSixty-eight of the 324 (21%) beaches with yearrounddry weather grades this year scored aperfect A+. These beaches had zero exceedancesof state bacterial standards for oceanwater quality during dry weather throughoutthe entire time frame of this report. Thesebeaches demonstrated that superb water qualitycan be found in areas impacted by wildlife,but without anthropogenic sources of fecalbacteria. Heal the Bay proudly places thesebeaches on the 2010-2011 Beach Report CardHonor Roll. (A complete list of these locationscan be found in Appendix B.)4386Dry WeatherAB411 (April-October)grades forCalifornia Beaches(445 locations)California’s Beach BummersNumerous California beaches vied for theBeach Bummer crown this year (the monitoringlocation with the poorest dry weather waterquality). Four of the 10 most polluted beachareas in the state were in Los Angeles County(see Table 3-1).Figure 3-1:Percentageof Grades byTime Periodfor CaliforniaBeaches3100%4This is Cowell Beach’s second consecutiveyear on the Beach Bummer list and its firsttime earning the #1 slot. This year, the areasurrounding the Cowell Beach wharf exhibitedseverely poor water quality, scoring an Fgrade during AB411 in 2010. Researchers fromStanford University are doing a major sanitary80%60%WET WEATHER(324 locations)33Table 3-1: TOP TEN CALIFORNIA BEACH BUMMERS1. Cowell Beach, at the wharf Santa Cruz County2. Avalon Harbor Beach, Catalina Island Los Angeles County40%213. Cabrillo Beach, harborside Los Angeles County4. Topanga State Beach, at creek mouth Los Angeles County5. Poche Beach Orange County6. North Beach Doheny Orange County7. Arroyo Burro Beach Santa Barbara County8. Baker Beach, at Lobos Creek San Francisco County20%WINTER-DRY(291 locations)76623DRY WEATHER(324 locations)8264415109. Colorado Lagoon Los Angeles County0%1352210. Capitola Beach, west of the wharf Santa Cruz CountyNumbers in BOLD indicate percentages. KEY:22
Avalon Beach continues its reign as one of the mostpolluted beaches in California. The city of Avalon hasallocated $5.1 million towards sewer improvements,which are planned to proceed this summer.survey at Cowell Beach this year in hopes of identifying problematic sources affecting beach waterquality.Avalon Beach has been on the Bummer list for a decade, yet Los Angeles County still only monitorsthe beach once a week and only during the AB411 time period. Of the five monitoring locations atthis beach, none received better than a D grade during AB411 in 2010. Four years ago, a $4.5 millionswimmer health effects study included Avalon Beach as a research location due to its perpetually poorwater quality. Also, researchers from Stanford University and UC Irvine completed separate sourcetracking, fate and transport, and modeling studies that demonstrated that sewage contaminatedgroundwater is a major source of beach pollution at Avalon.Avalon Beach continues its reign as one of the most polluted beaches in California. After the LosAngeles Regional Water Quality Control Board inspected Avalon’s sewage infrastructure in October2010, they issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) on Feb. 23, 2011 for consistent violations of state waterquality standards. In part as a result of the NOV, the city of Avalon has moved forward with several initiatives.After a nearly 20-year partnership, the city of Avalon and United Water Services mutually endedtheir sewage services contract in February. Meanwhile, the city of Avalon has contracted EnvironStrategy (ES) to resume operation of its Waste Water TreatmentPlant (WWTP). In March, the city of Avalon hired RBF Consultingto perform a sewer and manhole condition assessment, whichestimated that $4.6 million was needed for repairs. An additional$250,000 in repairs was also recommended to upgrade the city’sWWTP. The city of Avalon has allocated $5.1 million towards sewerimprovements, which are planned to proceed this summer.Avalon. Photo: Heal the Bay23
Page 3 and 4: Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environ
Page 5 and 6: Heal the Bay’s21st Annual Beach R
Page 7 and 8: Executive SummaryHeal the Bay’s 2
Page 9 and 10: TOP TEN BEACH BUMMERSBEACH/COUNT Y
Page 11 and 12: conventional analytical methods, an
Page 15: IntroductionHeal the Bay’s first
Page 18 and 19: dards (AB411) and recommended by th
Page 20 and 21: The disparity between dry and wet w
Page 24 and 25: Cabrillo Beach harborside. Photo: J
Page 26 and 27: Heal the Bay advises coastal beachg
Page 28 and 29: San Diego CountyFIGURE 4-1Percentag
Page 30 and 31: More on the Tijuana River SloughWhe
Page 32 and 33: tored during the AB411 time period.
Page 34 and 35: or cut back on their ocean water qu
Page 36 and 37: the major source of contamination f
Page 38 and 39: public pressure to upgrade the sewe
Page 40 and 41: a continuous schedule for seven day
Page 42 and 43: ability of sand to filter and infil
Page 44 and 45: Santa Barbara CountyThe County of S
Page 48 and 49: San Mateo CountyThe County of San M
Page 50: Background information on theSan Fr
Page 53 and 54: Humboldt CountyIn an effort to proa
Page 55 and 56: FIGURE 4-252010 Summer Oregon Water
Page 57 and 58: Beach Types and Water QualitySouthe
Page 59: Beach Pollution PatternsPercentage
Page 62 and 63: Even though the EPA’s water quali
Page 64: Island and perform additional epide
Page 67 and 68: California’s beach monitoring pro
Page 69 and 70: will move from the State Department
Page 71 and 72: fornia Environmental Quality Act Sc
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APPENDIX A1Heal the Bay’s Annual
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APPENDIX A1Table 8-3:Single Sample
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APPENDIX A2Table 8-6:Single Sample
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A+San Luis ObispoCounty• San Sime
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APPENDIX C1AB411 Dry Wet Winter Dry
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APPENDIX C1County“Beach Bummer”
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APPENDIX C1Los Angeles County, cont
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APPENDIX C1Ventura County, cont’d
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APPENDIX C1San Luis Obispo County,
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APPENDIX C1San Francisco CountyAB41
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APPENDIX C22010 Summer Beach Report
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APPENDIX C32010 Summer Beach Report
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1444 9th Street, Santa Monica, CA 9
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Beach Report Card - California Coastkeeper Alliance

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