The quality of ocean water around the Redondo Beach Pier has been ranked the eighth-worst on the West Coast.
Heal the Bay, a non-profit environmental group, named Redondo Pier on its list of “Beach Bummers,” or beaches whose oceans host the highest bacterial levels from week to week.
The list is part of this year’s 23rd annual report card, which assigns grades (A through F) to 445 beaches tested over three reporting periods in 2012 and 2013.
The worst-ranked beach was Avalon on Catalina Island, and other nearby “bummers” include Malibu Pier and Doheny State Beach in Dana Point.
“This is not Redondo Pier’s first appearance on the infamous Beach Bummer list as it made its debut in 2005,” reads the report card, which Heal the Bay released last week.
“According to a 2010 source identification study led by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, definitive pollution sources potentially affecting Redondo Pier’s water quality were never identified.
“However, based on the study’s recommendations, the City of Redondo Beach installed four permanent no swimming signs (two on each side of the pier) and is implementing weekly trash pickups on and under the pier in order to reduce debris and other potential sources of bacteria.”
The report applauds the city for having recently replaced a faulty sewer pipe coupling, but encourages staff to “be aggressive in their source mitigation efforts in order [to] improve the pier’s inconsistent beach water quality.”
In the winter and wet weather, the pier gets an F grade, and in the summer and dry weather it earns a C. Topaz, by comparison, gets a C in the summer and winter, and in wet weather earns a B.
The nearby Sapphire testing site receives a B in the summer, an A+ in the winter, and an A in wet weather.
Redondo’s close neighbor, 26th street in Hermosa Beach, was this year on the honor roll of highest-quality beaches, along with seven other beaches in the Los Angeles area.
Most testing sites receive good marks in dry weather – indeed, 93 percent of the 445 beaches tested got A and B grades in the dry period – but their rankings drastically decline in wet weather. During rainfall, most local beaches get C, D, and F grades.
This report card reveals a 2 percent improvement on last year’s, owing to infrastructure upgrades and two years of low rainfall. Despite the improvement, Los Angeles County is home to the poorest quality beaches in the state.
To see the report card, visit beachreportcard.org.
