Dear old Clam Beach has made the list that no self-respecting body of sand and surf would want to be on: The Top Ten Beach Bummers. Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental group, puts this list together each year as part of an annual water quality report card issued for more than 500 California beaches (you can weekly updates, however, as well). The 18th annual, 91-page report card — for 2007-2008 — was released today.
The report cards are based on stats gathered year round by local health departments, who test their beaches for three types of pollution-indicator bacteria regularly during three periods: April to October; dry weather year-round; and wet weather year-round. Beaches are graded on an A-F scale for water quality.
Clam Beach, near Strawberry Creek, scored an F between April and October, as well as for dry weather — its lowest grades yet. Moonstone Beach, near the Little River, scored a C during those same periods. The other three beaches tested — Trinidad, Luffenholtz, and the Mad River Mouth (north) — scored much better, As and Bs, and all did well in wet weather year-round.
According to the report, one in 25 people get sick swimming or surfing in polluted water near flowing storm drains (yick, anyway). No surprise, most of the bummer beaches were in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
But Clam Beach’s filth apparently came from elsewhere, anyway, says the report:
In June 2005, Humboldt DEH began systematic collection of bird population data at both Moonstone Beach and Clam Beach. Both of these locations have substantial and growing resident bird populations. Also, Humboldt County experienced some unusual rain events during the AB411 time period last year. Over an inch of rain fell in July 2007 and three inches of rain fell in early October. The large bird populations coupled with the summer rains are believed to have contributed to many of the bacterial exceedances at Moonstone and Clam Beach last summer.
Damned flyway.
See the
report
.
This article appears in Nobody’s Fault.
So what exactly is the point? Clam Beach is great habitat has lots of birds. Isn’t that what everyone says they want? Oops,shit happens. Dirty bird. Isn’t nature reading all those signs?
When that movie was released in 1963, when I was 6 years old, I thought Mr. Hitchcock had made a movie about my family.
Go back and read the report Heidi. Humboldt did NOT make it to the list of top ten bummers.
The bad grades-yes.
I read the report. Clam Beach was No. 9 on the list of top 10 bummers.
I wrote that Clam Beach made the Top Ten Beach Bummers list, not Humboldt. And the report says the same:
The Top 10 Beach Bummers
Twenty four beaches statewide received an “F” grade in dry weather during the 2007-2008 Beach Report Card. The ten worst “Beach Bummers” in California (starting with the worst) are:
1. Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island (Los Angeles County)
2. Santa Monica Municipal Pier (Los Angeles County)
3. Poche Beach (Orange County)
4. North Beach Doheny (Orange County)
5. Marie Canyon Drain at Puerco Beach (Los Angeles County)
6. Cabrillo Beach harborside (Los Angeles County)
7. City of Long Beach — multiple locations (Los Angeles County)
8. Campbell Cove State Park Beach (Sonoma County)
9. Clam Beach County Park near Strawberry Creek (Humboldt County)
10. Pismo Beach Pier (San Luis Obispo County)
For a detailed look at beach results for each county and report methodology, please refer to our complete report. A PDF version is available http://www.healthebay.org.
Sorry, that last anonymous post was from me — I hadn’t logged in.
seems like a pretty weak list if natural pollutants make the top ten list. The fact that Trinidad, Luffenholtz and Moonstone don’t make the list and the pollutant is human fecal coliform leaching from those rich enviros septic systems pretty much sums up the usefulness of the report. Shouldn’t they be looking for controllable sources of pollutants? Actual dischargers?
[…] 28, 2008 by Jennifer Savage As reported on the North Coast Journal’s Blogthing and in the Eureka Reporter, Clam Beach recently received an “F” – an […]