Long Beach Makes The Water Quality Grade With A Big, Fat 'A'
Long Beach, a city infamous for its poor beach water quality, has been doing its homework and received gold star AND smiley face stickers on its latest report card. Heal the Bay released its 2011 End of Summer Beach Report Card - a report of beach water quality - on Monday, awarding Long Beach with excellent marks for its "dramatic improvement," per Monday's press release. All beaches received an "A" grade, except for Mother's Beach, which was deemed worthy of a "B." Shall we assume the droves of beachgoers and recreational vessels crowding the sand and water contribute to this passing yet mediocre mark?
This summer marks the third in a row that Long Beach has shown improved water quality. “By aggressively tackling our coastal water issues head on, we're making a difference,” said Mayor Bob Foster. “We still have work to do, but our water quality is improving, thanks to infrastructure improvements, grant funding, regional partnerships, technology and other innovative solutions.”
Heal the Bay noted that "the City of Long Beach has remained dedicated to improving beach water quality through the implementation of several mitigation projects.” Recent improvements at Colorado Lagoon were singled out in the report card, including removing contaminated sediment, cleaning an underground culvert to improve water circulation with Alamitos Bay, installing bioswales to naturally filter out stormwater contaminants and installing trash traps and a low-flow diversion system to divert some of the most heavily contaminated stormwater into the sewage system.
“Our determination to improve water quality is producing results, as well as excellent marks from Heal the Bay,” said Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, who represents the 2nd Council District. “Our water quality grades improved by an impressive 27 percent over last summer, and even more over summer 2009.”
The L.A. River, as well as rainfall and sewage spills from upstream communities, greatly affect the recreational waters of Long Beach. “In general, beach water quality at the main beaches in Long Beach tends to be impacted by the Los Angeles River," noted Heal the Bay. "This is supported by an extensive source tracking study which showed the vast majority of bacterial contamination at Long Beach beaches was a result of pollution from the Los Angeles River.”
Several other water quality initiatives are currently underway and nearing achievement. The city has been proactive in implementing best management practices to reduce bacteria levels in recreational waters. Along with 15 upriver cities, Long Beach is installing thousands of trash-capturing devices in regional storm drains that flow to the L.A. River and then the Long Beach coastline. The project is near completion and will block hundreds of tons of trash from storm drains with urban runoff. The nearly completed L.A. County Termino Avenue Storm Drain Project involves multiple water quality protection features, such as oil and grease absorbent sponges, retractable catch basin screens to keep trash from entering the storm drain system and a low-flow diversion system to improve the water quality of storm runoff.
The LBC monitors its recreational waters on a weekly basis, and results are viewable online.
