By Hector Gonzalez
Staff Writer

June 18, 2015 -- For the second year in a row, the ocean around Santa Monica Pier received an F-grade for water quality on Heal the Bay’s annual Beach Report Card, which was released Wednesday.

The Pier also made the Santa Monica-based nonprofit environmental group’s list of “beach bummers” -- beaches that Heal the Bay officials said should be avoided year-round by swimmers and surfers. The Pier’s second consecutive failing grade comes after the beach around the iconic structure earned A-grades in 2011 and 2012

Heal the Bay officials warn that people venturing into the water at beaches that scored an F on its report card risk serious illnesses, including respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses.

Many factors, including large numbers of visitors, make the Pier more vulnerable to pollution from runoff and other sources, said Heal the Bay environmental scientist Leslie Griffin.

“We have a lot of birds. There’s been bird netting that’s been put in place, but the birds are very tricky and can find ways of getting through anyway,” she said. “You see that when the bird netting is up and intact, we have better water quality, and as soon as there’s a hole in it we get worse water quality again.”

Overall, Heal the Bay’s 25th annual Beach Report Card found water quality at 94 percent of the 92 beaches monitored by the group in Los Angeles County generally good during the non-rainy season. Those 92 county beaches received either A or B grades during the “high traffic summer season,” said Sarah Sikich, vice president of Heal the Bay.

“That’s a four-percent improvement from last year and a 10 percent improvement from LA County’s previous five-year average,” Sikich said.

Three beaches in the county made Heal the Bay’s ‘honor role’ by scoring perfect A-plus grades during both winter and summer months, thanks in large part to California’s ongoing drought, said Sikich.

“These high-quality water marks are likely due in part to the ongoing drought. With less storm water flows, less pollution is arriving to the ocean,” she said, adding that local improvements to storm drain systems and other measures also contributed to improved water quality.

“People are washing their cars less. People are watering their lawns less. So we’re getting less urban runoff, and urban runoff really impacts our water quality,” Griffin said. “If we keep behaving like we’re in a drought, even if we get more rain, we’re still going to see better water quality.

During winter months, though, it’s a completely different story at local beaches, Heal the Bay officials said at a news conference at Santa Monica Pier.

“The news is worse during wet weather, when nearly half of LA County’s beaches received an F-grade,” said Sikich. “This is a public health concern for the region’s many year-round surfers, swimmers and divers.”

California’s severe drought conditions should highlight for local and state officials the need to capture and reuse storm water runoff “rather than simply dumping it out uselessly into sea,” she said.

“We need to rethink runoff and turn this nuisance into a resource,” said Sikich.

Water quality around Santa Monica Pier had improved following urban runoff treatment programs the City implemented using funding from local Measure V, which voters in Santa Monica approved in 2006.

Completed in 2009, the City’s runoff treatment program replaced an old storm drain under the Pier that had allowed polluted runoff to pond. It also included the construction of a pump to divert dry weather runoff to the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Reuse Facility (SMRF) for treatment (“Santa Monica Beaches Get High Marks,” May 25, 2012).

In 2010, the City finished installing netting to prevent birds from nesting underneath the Pier and adding fecal bacteria to the water. The City also hired researchers from UCLA to complete a thorough source tracking study “to identify any remaining sources of fecal bacteria at the beach.”

In 2011 and again in 2012, the waters around the Pier received an A-grade from Heal the Bay’s report card. Last year and again this year, the Pier area got an F.

“Beach water quality near the pier continues to suffer,” Sikich said Wednesday.

Sikich said her organization is “hopeful that the recent Clean Beach Initiative Grant received by the City will improve water quality here as it will result in a project that takes both wet and dry weather runoff and diverts it away from the ocean.”

In January this year, the City applied for a $3.7 million grant from the state Water Resources Control Board and will use about $1.3 million in matching funds from Measure V to pay for its Clean Beaches Project, estimated to cost about $5.1 million.

The project will “capture all wet weather runoff from the 90-acre Pier Drainage Area” following a major storm, “and capture a portion of so called ‘first flush’ storm water discharges to the beach at the Pico-Kenter Outfall,” according to the City’s project description.

“Captured storm water and/or dry weather runoff from both locations would be piped to the City’s nearby SMURRF plant for treatment and recycled non-potable use,” a City report said.