Heal the Bay’s 2024 ‘Beach Report Card’ highlights link between rain, ocean health

A dozen beaches in Southern California made the nonprofit's 'Honor Roll,' more than last year.

Buried in this year’s edition of Heal the Bay’s 34th annual “Beach Report Card,” issued Wednesday, July 17, is a number that’s critical to the health of ocean lovers of every stripe, from surfers who hit the waves every day to toddlers learning to swim and splash in ocean lagoons: 38 million.

That’s how many gallons of raw sewage flowed into the Pacific during a series of storms that churned through Southern California from late last summer until the middle of spring.

This year’s Heal the Bay report suggests all of that runoff – which carries fecal matter, oils, bacteria and dozens of other pollutants – is starting to hurt the ocean in ways that are more profound and longer-lasting than in previous years.

“Water quality is really becoming a climate story,” said Annelisa Moe, Heal the Bay’s associate director of science and policy.

“We’ve been seeing record-breaking storms, and it’s having a long-term effect.”

During routine rains, runoff flows from the region’s largely paved and cemented landscape into sewer and drainage systems, eventually winding up in the ocean. That happens every year and tends to make the local ocean less-than-pristine for brief periods during and after a rain event.

But several huge storms over the past year – repeating a pattern seen during a record-setting 2022-23 rainy season – overwhelmed the region’s drainage and sewage infrastructure, pushing huge amounts of unsafe and unhealthy pollutants into the ocean.

Though the overall health of local beaches and freshwater swimming remains good during dry periods, the Heal the Bay report shows that last rainy season’s pattern created more pollution with longer-lasting results. High bacteria counts lasted for several days after last year’s biggest storms, rendering dozens of beaches and freshwater swimming areas favored by residents of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties unusable.

It’s still unclear what the recent cycle might mean for the long-term health of the ocean and local rivers.

“These really big rain events are flushing so much pollution out to the coast and into the water that we’re seeing the impacts linger,” Moe said.

“We know it’s having some kind of long-term effect, we just don’t yet know what that might be.”

Heal the Bay’s report, based on public testing of ocean bacteria levels, issues A-through-F style grades for water health during three different sets of conditions – dry summer and winter weather, and rainy winter weather. This year’s report graded more than 500 beaches in California, including 91 in Los Angeles County and 96 in Orange County.

The Santa Monica-based nonprofit also uses its own testing to issue similar grades for more than a dozen popular freshwater spots in Los Angeles County, most of which are swimming and wading pools fed by the Los Angeles River, the San Gabriel River and Malibu Creek.

With some exceptions – usually at beaches near rivers, creeks or storm drains, or in lagoons where currents are slow –  Heal the Bay found that the water off Southern California’s coast is usually pretty healthy, at least when storms aren’t transferring pollution from the land to the ocean. More than 9 in 10 beaches in Los Angeles (94%) and Orange (95%) counties were given A or B grades for the bacteria levels reported during dry, summer days.

Moe, who enjoys SCUBA diving off Catalina and visiting tidepools in Malibu, said she’s confident that the vast majority of swimming spots, regionally, are clean and safe during the periods when most people use the water.

“I would check the Beach Report Card (healthebay.org) first, just to make sure, but I’d go swimming in most places.”

But conditions change during and after the rain, particularly in Los Angeles County, according to Heal the Bay. Two in three (66%) beaches in the county earned A or B grades during rain storms, and only 37% earned similar grades in the days just after big rains in the winter.

Moe said that’s in keeping with recent patterns.

“We’ve noticed over the past couple of years that conditions dip during dry days in winter,” she said. “That’s become kind of consistent.”

The winter runoff problem is particularly acute in Los Angeles County for a couple reasons.

First, the city’s sprawling urban development has meant fewer parks and green spaces that can naturally soak up rainwater. Second, the city’s twin water collection systems – paved riverbeds and several thousands of miles of underground sewers – were designed a century ago, when sending wastewater into the ocean was considered a good thing, not a source of pollution.

Heal the Bay calculated that 185 sewage spills during much of the fall and winter generated about 9 million gallons of spill into the ocean. That included a February spill of about 8 million gallons of raw waste that ran from the Dominguez Channel to Cabrillo Beach, resulting in beach closures.

“A lot of what’s underground, in terms of water collection, is over 100 years old and hasn’t been overhauled recently or ever,” Moe said, adding that Heal the Bay and other groups are working to encourage the county to address the issue.

“If we’re able to capture stormwater and re-use it, that’s great. But, from a pollution aspect, it’s important to capture it where it falls through parks and other green spaces,” she added.

“If we could turn Los Angeles into a sponge, that would be good.”

The Heal the Bay report card also found that two stretches of ocean in Los Angeles County – Marina del Rey Mother’s Beach and the water under the Santa Monica Pier – rate as “Beach Bummers,” because they show high bacteria counts during dry, wet and post-storm conditions.

The Heal the Bay report suggested conditions in Orange County beaches are less dire.

Not only did Heal the Bay issue As and Bs for 95% of Orange County beaches during dry, summer weather, the county’s beaches achieved similar numbers during wet weather (89%) and dry winter weather (91%).  The report noted that Orange County’s strong grades came even as the county saw 19 inches of rain, nearly double its usual amount and a key reason why 210,667 gallons of sewage spilled into the county’s waterways.

The report noted that “there was no noticeable negative impact on the Wet Weather and Winter Dry Grades.”

Heal the Bay also ranked nine Orange County beaches among the 12 beaches, statewide, to make its “Honor Roll,” meaning bacteria counts were well below average in virtually all conditions.

The report also looked at freshwater swimming, concentrating on more than a dozen spots in Malibu and the San Gabriel Valley. Overall, Moe said, places closer to the upper forks of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers are generally clean, as are most parts of Malibu Creek.

The river areas closer to the coast, however, aren’t fit for swimming or wading.

“Generally, the lower Los Angeles River isn’t yet used for recreation,” Moe said.

“But, a few years ago, that was true of the upper part of the river, too. And, now, people go kayaking there. So we’re hopeful we’ll see changes in the lower part of the river, too.”