The environmental water quality group Heal The Bay today released their annual report card (click here to download the report), grading California beaches based on their water quality and pollutant levels.  Unsurprisingly, Long Beach was rated among the very worst in the state, earning a rating of "Beach Bummer" and ranking as the 6th worst water quality among California beaches.

The Los Angeles Times today provides an article, praising Long Beach for its efforts.  Wait... what?

Although Long Beach's overall water quality is poor because it sits at the terminus of the L.A. River, this year saw the city's best water quality in three years. The city invested more than $300,000 last year to determine sources of bacterial contamination and fix broken sewage pump lines.

True, being ranked the 6th worst beach in the state is an improvement for Long Beach.  But it's not one that I believe we should be particularly proud of.  This sentence from the actual report strikes me as more appropriate:

Long Beach showed some improvement at select locations this year, but the majority of locations near the LA River continue to exceed state health standards regularly.

Which may or may not be worth a $300,000 investment, depending on your viewpoint.  The report actually devotes two full paragraphs to the situation facing Long Beach and the (frankly) impressive efforts that have been made. 

Year-round dry weather water quality in Long Beach improved slightly this past year, but was still poor overall. 52% of Long Beach monitoring locations received fair to poor grades. The rest of L.A. County was closer to the state average, with 78% A and B grades. Long Beach has made significant efforts to locate pollution sources and improve water quality. Extensive studies throughout the city have demonstrated that the Los Angeles River, an enormous pollution source because of its 1000-plus square mile drainage, was the predominant source of fecal bacteria to Long Beach waters. Long Beach scored 52% A and B grades during AB411 and 48% during year-round dry weather. Monitoring locations between Belmont Pier and City Beach at 72nd Place, as well as a handful of locations in Alamitos Bay, exhibited the best water quality in Long Beach this past year for dry weather. Every monitoring location in Long Beach again scored a poor grade during wet weather.

It should be noted that even though Long Beach’s water quality overall is poor, this year did mark the best Long Beach water quality in the past 3 years. Last year, the City of Long Beach invested over $300,000 towards an effort to determine sources of its ocean water bacterial contamination. While the Los Angeles River will continue to be the major source of contamination for Long Beach beaches, the city’s investigations have resulted in the discovery and repair of leaking or disconnected sewage pump lines and improperly working storm drain diversions. These repairs appear to have made a dent in the overall water quality problems in Long Beach. The City has also implemented an innovative pilot technology to disinfect runoff in the stormdrains. Hopefully we will see more improvements in Long Beach water quality over time.

Now, of course, sitting at the mouth of the Los Angeles River puts our ocean in an extreme disadvantage.  It's not like our water quality is poor because residents maliciously dump their trash into the ocean. 

So the million-dollar question is, what can be done?  Today's Heal The Bay report seems to suggest that Long Beach is already doing quite a bit.  It's no secret that the problem lies with the amount of pollution being dumped into the Los Angeles River by 23 other cities before it even gets to Long Beach.  The possibility of litigation against heavy upstream polluters has been explored in the past, but halted time and time again.  And until that changes, it seems Long Beach may find a permanent home on the "Beach Bummers" list.

What do you think about the rating?  If you've read the report, what strikes you?  Let's see if we can't hash out a solution in the Comments section today.

By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor

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