Beach Report Card - California Coastkeeper Alliance

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Cabrillo Beach harborside. Photo: Joy Aoki[E]ven with more than $15 million in cleanup project efforts, Cabrillo Beach harborside still continues to receiveextremely poor water quality grades and is in almost constant violation of beach bacteria TMDL limits.These improvements are positive steps towards improving water quality at Avalon and we hope theyare adequate to improve beach water quality. Heal the Bay continues to advocate for the Los AngelesRegional Water Quality Control Board to develop a bacteria TMDL for Avalon Beach so that agencieswill be held accountable for the increased public health risk due to poor water quality.Cabrillo Beach harborside has earned F grades for all time periods over the last eight years, earningthe #3 spot on the Beach Bummer list. In August 2009, pilot circulators were installed in the beachwater in hopes of improving circulation and water quality. Ultimately, the circulators failed to improvewater quality but there were noted implementation errors so this project may be retried in the future.The last step of Phase II in the Cabrillo Beach cleanup project (bird excluder devices) was completedin the spring of 2010. Modification of the monofilament array is needed to better exclude the birds. Althougha short beach maintenance program pilot (physically picking up bird feces every morning) didnot show substantial results, the program should be enhanced in light of the success at Dana Point’sBaby Beach. Unfortunately, even with more than $15 million in cleanup project efforts, Cabrillo Beachharborside still continues to receive extremely poor water quality grades and is in almost constantviolation of beach bacteria TMDL limits.Topanga State Beach at the creek mouth has not been on the Beach Bummer list since 2005-06. ASource Identification Pilot Program (SIPP) is currently underway at this location, with researchers fromStanford University, UCSB, UCLA, U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development and the SouthernCalifornia Coastal Water Resource Project (SCCWRP). They are developing and implementing sani-24
tary survey/source tracking protocols at 12 to 16of California’s most polluted beaches, includingTopanga. Researchers will test methods to identifyhuman and a variety of different animal sources.The study will also compare results betweenthe different laboratories in order to ensure thatmethods are comparable.One of the final products will be a source trackingprotocol that can be used to find microbial pollutionsources at beaches chronically polluted byfecal indicator bacteria. The tool has been sorelyneeded since the passage of AB538 in 1999,which requires source identification and abatementefforts to proceed at chronically pollutedbeaches. To date, AB538 requirements have beenlargely ignored.Poche Beach continues to struggle with poor waterquality taking the #5 place on the Beach Bummerlist. A dry weather filtration/UV disinfectionplant at the Poche Creek outlet was completedover two years ago (March 2009) but has yet tomeet its design performance specifications. Despitea 94% water treatmentefficiency average, treatedoutflow exceeded the singlesample and geometric meanTopanga State Beach. Photo: Joy Aokistandards for Enterococcus 15% and 57% of the time, respectively. An extended periodof treatment performance trials was completed in May 2010. Treated dischargewas unable to be delivered to the surfzone, as it is required by resource agenciesto discharge into a nearby beach pond prior to ocean entry. Data collected duringthe 2010 performance trials were highly suggestive that a pond bypass of treatedoutflow would substantially lower the extent of surfzone exceedances. Due to theseresults, on May 11, 2011 the Coastal Commission approved the county’s proposalfor a 2011 summer demonstration trial, which would relocate the treated outflowaround the beach pond. The trial will demonstrate whether a beach pond bypasscan in fact improve surfzone beach water quality at Poche Beach.The County of Orange continues to initiate an effort towards improving surfzonewater quality at Poche Beach. Funding from the Clean Beaches Initiative (CBI) andSan Clemente has allowed extensive source identification work in the lower watershed.Runoff and groundwater have been identified as potential sources. Also, theposted area on the beach is a potentially significant source of fecal indicator organisms.The final report should be out within the year.Poche Beach. Photo: Joy Aoki25
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 22 and 23: California’s Dry WeatherHonor Rol
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
Page 73 and 74: APPENDIX A1Heal the Bay’s Annual
Page 75 and 76:
APPENDIX A1Table 8-3:Single Sample
Page 77 and 78:
APPENDIX A2Table 8-6:Single Sample
Page 79 and 80:
A+San Luis ObispoCounty• San Sime
Page 81 and 82:
APPENDIX C1AB411 Dry Wet Winter Dry
Page 84 and 85:
APPENDIX C1County“Beach Bummer”
Page 86 and 87:
APPENDIX C1Los Angeles County, cont
Page 88 and 89:
APPENDIX C1Ventura County, cont’d
Page 90 and 91:
APPENDIX C1San Luis Obispo County,
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APPENDIX C1San Francisco CountyAB41
Page 94 and 95:
APPENDIX C22010 Summer Beach Report
Page 96 and 97:
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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