Malibu beaches don’t make the honor roll or the Beach Bummer list
Santa Monica Pier and Mother’s Beach have been named to the list of California’s most polluted waters, according to the annual Beach Report Card issued by environmental group Heal the Bay. Fortunately, Malibu’s beaches managed to avoid making either the Bummer List or the Honor Roll.
On Wednesday, July 17, Heal the Bay, the West Coast’s most comprehensive water quality analysis organization, released its annual Beach Report Card. And now in its 34th year, the group has been documenting Los Angeles County’s rivers for six years.
None of Malibu’s beaches have made it to the Honor
You won’t find the bummer list in this year’s report either. The report found that beaches in the South Bay Area received better marks in the summer.
The good news is that nearly 90 percent of California’s monitored beaches received a water quality grade of A or B during the dry summer months. That number is close to the state’s 10-year average, but represents a 6 percent decrease from our last Report Card.
“89 percent of California’s beaches were safe for swimming in the summer of 2023, but we are still seeing impacts to water quality from record-breaking storms, urban runoff, and sewage intrusions,” said Tracy Quinn, CEO and President of Heal the Bay. “California’s 20th century water infrastructure was not designed to meet the challenges of 21st century climate change. We must modernize aging wastewater treatment plants and prioritize public investments in nature-based, multi-use stormwater capture infrastructure.”
Over 30 years ago, Heal the Bay introduced the Beach Report Card as a key public health tool to protect beachgoers. This comprehensive tool assesses water quality by analyzing bacterial contamination at over 700 beaches from Tijuana to Washington.
Beaches in Southern California (Santa Barbara to San Diego counties) received 90 percent of A or B grades during the summer. Beaches in Northern California (Del Norte to Marin counties) also received 90 percent of A or B grades during the summer, while beaches in Central California (San Francisco to San Luis Obispo counties) received 84 percent of A or B grades.
The organization annually gives grades from A to F to about 700 beaches along the Pacific coast, from Washington state to Baja, based on the level of bacterial contamination. The lower the grade, the greater the likelihood that beachgoers will become ill.
“The Beach Report Card is completely free to the public through both a website and a mobile app and underscores our commitment to public health and environmental protection,” their report states. “These efforts aim to improve water quality and have motivated communities and agencies to implement actions that have resulted in numerous environmental success stories along the coast.”
Heal the Bay also encourages beachgoers to check current water quality ratings for their local beaches at beachreportcard.org and freshwater recreation areas at healthebay.org/riverreportcard.
Quinn recommends waiting at least three days of rain before swimming, not swimming closer than 90 meters to a sewer, and checking the Heal the Bay Report Card before visiting beaches.
“Over the last two years everything has been relatively consistent,” Quinn said.
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