"Lost Angeles" beaches fail miserably in regards to water quality

We have an organization here in Santa Monica area called Heal the Bay. The non-profit began in the middle eighties when some local residents found out that barely treated sewage via the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant was being pumped into the Santa Monica bay.

These individuals formed Heal the Bay and joined an EPA lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles to address it and they summarily did. As a result the dolphins came back, you can swim Pier-to-Pier from Hermosa to Manhattan without getting sick, but though the water quality has improved, it is nowhere near the turquoise color it should be.

So, like a water quality "watch dog," Heal the Bay checks up on water quality tests not just in Los Angeles but up and down the coast and they give an annual report card. They just handed out their 17 th annual report card and L.A. and Long Beach had the worst water quality! From the L.A. Times:

• Heal the Bay issues a weekly "report card" for each beach, based on data assembled from more than 20 coastal health agencies.

• The group's 17th Annual Beach Report Card, released last week, found that although most California beaches (82%) had good to excellent water quality during dry weather, Los Angeles County beaches were below average on the whole, with Long Beach posting the worst dry-weather water quality in the state. [Link]

The heal the Bay report can be read here: [Link]