Santa Monica sets precedent for taking care of beaches
Santa Monica Bay beaches are among the dirtiest in the state, according to a report released this week by a national environmental group.
However, the report also said water quality in 2002 improved over 2001 and 2000, largely because of drier weather.
Beaches in Los Angeles County were either closed or slapped with advisories for a total of 913 days in 2002, making them the second dirtiest in California, directly behind those in Orange County, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s 13th annual report on water quality.
Ninety-two percent of beach closures and advisories in 2002 were caused by high levels of bacteria stemming from “undetermined sources,” according to the report, which attributed 7 percent to rain and 1 percent to sewage discharge.
Santa Monica Beach was either closed or hit with a warning 59 times in 2002, while Will Rogers State Beach was targeted 34 times, according to the report. To the north, Topanga Beach had 19 closures or advisories and Venice Beach had 18.
Some of those closures lasted a week or longer.
“We’re not happy about it, but we have to remember that this is the region’s bay,” said Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, who sits on a regional commission formed to address the matter. “When I was growing up, you never thought twice about what you would throw down the drain and into the sewer. And that went on for years.”
Exposure to storm drain runoff, one of the leading causes of ocean water pollution, can cause colds, fevers, chills, sore throats, diarrhea and other illnesses, according to a study by the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project, a state agency.
Officials said despite the dirty water, Santa Monica is one of the most progressive cities in the nation in how it deals with ocean pollution. A state-of-the-art treatment facility processes much of the city’s runoff, while catch basins and filters weed out some chemical and biological pollutants that would otherwise flow to the bay.
Still, there is work to be done.
3C4,“What we haven’t been so successful on is with the wet weather,” said James Alamillo, beach report card manager for Heal the Bay, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of the Santa Monica Bay. “We’re still quite a ways away.”
But Alamillo said despite the problems associated with rain, only 2 percent of Santa Monica Bay beaches are contaminated.
“The rest of the beaches are safe,” he said. “And people should be using the resource of why we want to live here in the first place.”
Four beach locations from the Pacific Palisades to Venice are monitored daily, said Alamillo, who added that another four are checked on a weekly basis.
Brian Johnson, manager of the city’s environmental division, said Santa Monica is setting an example for other cities. He pointed to the $13 million Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility, completed in 2001, which can treat 500,000 gallons of runoff each day and reroute it for irrigation purposes.
But Johnson said capital projects like SMURF are not the only solution.
He said the problem of dirty beaches is also being tackled through aggressive litigation, cleanup projects and technological advancements, such as new and improved filters in catch basins.
City Councilman Kevin McKeown said Santa Monica has come along way since 1909, when the first Santa Monica Pier was constructed as a bridge to carry the sewer line out to sea, where its contents could be dumped away from the shore.
“We are consciously setting a precedent for other cities,” he said. “Especially Los Angeles, which is a huge area, most of which is paved over and from which a huge amount of toxins flow into the bay.”
“We are consciously setting a precedent for other cities.” — — KEVIN MCKEOWN Santa Monica City Councilman
Mayor Richard Bloom
Heal the Bay’s ‘Beach Report Card’ for this week:
Ocean Park Beach at Ashland Ave. A+
Santa Monica Beach at Strand St. A
Santa Monica Beach at Pico Blvd. C
Santa Monica Beach at Arizona Ave. A+
Santa Monica Beach at Montana Ave. F
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 15, 2003. Read the original PDF.