Waters off California's coast are cleaner -- and safer for swimmers and surfers -- in dry weather than they've been in years, according to an environmental report released Wednesday.
But although water quality is improving overall statewide, Los Angeles County is home to the most bacteria-laden seawater in California for the third straight year. Half of the 10 foulest shorelines in the state are in Los Angeles County, with the dirtiest water at Avalon Harbor Beach on Santa Catalina Island.
Other "beach bummers" with the worst water quality were the waters at Santa Monica Pier, Poche Beach and northern Doheny State Beach in southern Orange County, Marie Canyon at Puerco Beach in Malibu, Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro and various locations in Long Beach.
Drier-than-average weather helped keep most ocean waters cleaner; in rainy conditions, however, more than half of Southern California beaches tested fair to poor for traces of fecal bacteria.
"For storm water pollution, we're not doing a good job at all," said Mark Gold, president of the Santa Monica-based nonprofit group Heal the Bay, which compiles the report. "The beaches are just as polluted today during rainstorms as they were 15 years ago."
Runoff can contain trash, toxic heavy metals, pesticides, fertilizer, petroleum byproducts, animal waste and human sewage.
"It's not surprising -- it's just frustrating," Gold said. "We've had so much progress in so many other, different areas of coastal protection, [yet] our beaches still look like landfills after every rain."
Heal the Bay's annual beach report card tests more than 500 locations on the California coast for daily and weekly fecal bacteria pollution levels. Letter grades from A to F indicate the risk of health effects such as stomach flu, ear infections and rashes from swimming in contaminated water. Ocean water is analyzed for total coliform, fecal coliform -- also known as E. coli -- and enterococcus; total coliform can come from soil, plants, animals and humans, and the other two bacteria are found in bird and mammal droppings.
This year, 87% of beaches statewide and in the Southland received A or B grades during dry weather; only 71% of beaches in Los Angeles County alone scored that high.
Santa Monica Bay, long the subject of environmental and government scrutiny for pollution problems, is cleaner, Gold said.
