It’s report card time

DANETTE GOULET

If in doubt, don’t swim in the south.

It’s an easy rule of thumb to follow, but it may not be necessary

in the future. Water quality in the south, with the exception of the

Santa Ana River, was a tad better this summer than last, according to

Heal the Bay’s twice a year beach report card released this week.

Surf City beaches faired pretty much as they usually do, according

to the Santa Monica-based ocean watchdogs. The big exception this

year: not a single F.

Of the 16 beaches monitored from May 26 through Sept. 1, 12

received either an A or A+ grade (that’s par for the course.) The

four beaches at the southern end of the city earned two Bs a C and a

D -- not terrible grades for the most part, but not stellar.

The waters just north of the Santa Ana River earned an A last

year, but dropped to a B this summer. Grades at Huntington State

Beaches remained the same at two locations -- the beach at Newland

Street received its usual C and Brookhurst Street its B -- but the

waters off Magnolia Street managed to scrape by with a D this summer

rather than an F.

The lower overall water quality in this area is far from a new

phenomenon. It is a problem that has plagued the area for years and

has been studied by numerous scientists. Hypothesis have ranged from

excess bird droppings to the AES plant. And while several scientists

have discounted the enormous plume of sewage dumped 4 1/2 miles off

shore in this area, I’m anxious to see the areas grades in about 10

years when that sewage is better treated.

This report uses data from 448 monitoring stations in California,

101 of them in Orange County. The group assigns grades of A through F

based on the risk to ocean swimmers.

Of the 101 areas tested in Orange County, 79 received A grades, a

9% increase over last year.

Founded in 1985, Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental group

devoted to seeing the waters of California cleaned up for safe

swimming and fishing.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at danette.goulet@latimes.com.