DOWNTOWN EDITION: Wet Year Drowns Efforts To…
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DOWNTOWN EDITION: Wet Year Drowns Efforts To Improve Beaches
The water quality at the beach near downtown has improved in recent years.
By Jonathan Van Dyke |
PUBLISHED: May 26, 2011 at 3:57 p.m. | UPDATED: May 27, 2021 at 1:39 a.m.
The city's beach water quality was washed away by a year full of rain.
Heal the Bay's 21st Annual Beach Report Card was released Wednesday, illustrating the difficulty Long Beach faces in keeping good grades when the year turns soggy, officials said.
"This year we saw the whole state take a step back and Long Beach showed that like it was on steroids," said Mike Grimmer, report card manager for Heal the Bay. "This year returned to normal, if not more so, in rainfall (after several drier years)."
The bottom line, officials said, was that the Los Angeles River and other polluted waters would forever impact Long Beach – especially during particularly rainy years – unless further reforms were made.
Heal the Bay analyzed testing information from March 2010 to April 2011, coming up with ratings based on weekly levels of bacteria pollution. The information was then broken down into four categories: Summer season (April-October), dry periods year-round, wet periods year-round (tenth of an inch of water or more) and winter dry season (November-March). Ratings were given on a 0 to 100 scale and then broken into letter grades.
The beach test sites that received some of the toughest grades were those closest to downtown – closest to the Los Angeles River opening and the more stagnant water harbor areas. There were no beaches listed away from the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier toward downtown that received a grade higher than a C during dry period year-round (Coronado Avenue, Molino Avenue, 10th Place and Fifth Place).
The city has continued its commitment to working with the problems surrounding the Los Angeles River, said Tom Modica, manger of governmental affairs, including a number of infrastructure projects in 2010. One such project that should pay dividends, he said, was the retrofitting of about 12,000 catch basins from about 16 cities that drain into the river. According to the city, rain totals were at about 146% of normal levels during the time of the study.
"There were 13 beach advisories (for rain and bacteria) compared to seven the year before," Modica said.
The city's poor report card was anchored by the Colorado Lagoon's continued inclusion in The Top 10 Beach Bummers list (listed at No. 9). That was an improvement from last year (ranked No. 6).
Unlike other beaches, there was a true improvement in Colorado Lagoon, however small – the south section (the worst) scored 44 last year and 53 this year during the summer season.
"They're doing some work there (to improve conditions) and if we continue, hopefully they'll break the F barrier," Grimmer said.
The Belmont Shore-associated beaches were the lone bright spot, with several B grades (Belmont Pier, Prospect Avenue, 72nd Place) and several A grades (Granada Avenue and 55th Place) for dry periods year-round.
"As you get farther away from the river, breakwater and harbor effects – then you get a truer picture of open ocean," Grimmer said, noting open ocean is the cleanest of waters.
The more stagnant waters of Alamitos Bay struggled with dry period year-round grades: Second Street bridge was given a C, Mother's Beach was given an F and 56th Place was given a D.
Every site in Long Beach received an F for the wet period year-round category – something that points heavily to the amount of water runoff that invades the city during heavy rains, Grimmer said.
"You're seeing runoff for months in some circumstances," he said. "From what I've seen, I know Long Beach has done infrastructure improvements (to combat sewage runoff), but mostly, you're just downstream of these huge water streams."
The city is continuing to try and address the issue, Modica added.
"We've had a very significant investment over the last few years and we know there are significant hurdles to follow, but we hope to continue our efforts and improve on this next year," he said.
An areawide runoff regulation was ruled unlawful last year.
For the complete report card study, visit www.healthebay.org.
Grunion Environment
Jonathan Van Dyke
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