Harbor’s beaches off on marks

Lolita Harper

The city’s most popular beaches, from The Wedge to Corona del Mar,

received relatively high water-quality marks in a report released

Wednesday, but beaches in Newport Harbor continue to receive failing

grades.

Santa Monica-based pollution watchdog group Heal the Bay released

its annual Beach Report Card and its Beach Bummer list Wednesday.

While Newport managed to stay off the top 10 worst polluted spots,

the harbor received a plethora of Fs.

The stretch from the Santa Ana River mouth to The Wedge all

received A’s in the dry season. Once the rainy season hit, however,

the river mouth grade dropped to an F, as did the beach at Orange

Street. One popular surf area, at 52nd and 53rd streets, pulled in a

C in the wet season. The rest of the beaches out to The Wedge earned

Bs.

While the 30 harbor-front beaches received a smattering of grades

ranging from A to F in the dry season, 26 of the 30 received a

failing grade in the wet season on the beach report card. Of those

26, Newport Harbor 43rd Street and 38th Street beaches received Fs

across the board between April 2003 and March 2004.

Crystal Cove was the brightest spot, garnering A’s across the

board.

The report card, which summarizes water-quality issues up and down

the coast in terms of the season, identified Newport Dunes north as

another failing site in both the dry and rainy seasons. Onyx Avenue

Beach, in Newport Harbor, avoided failure by squeaking out a D in

both seasons.

Bob Caustin, president and founder of Defend the Bay, said the

harbor continues to be a problem because of the large levels of urban

runoff that accumulate in a closed body of water, such as the harbor.

In total, 28 of the 43 beaches listed in Newport Beach received an

F in the wet season. Most of those locations received an A or B in

the dry season, when most crowds flock to the water, but some, like

Newport Harbor 11th Street and Harbor Patrol beaches, were marginal

even in the dry season.

The contrast between wet and dry seasons in Orange County was the

most stark in the state, according to the report.

The large amount of rainfall may be one of the reasons for such

bad grades this year, said Mitzy Taggert, staff scientist with Heal

the Bay.

“Wet weather grades are almost always worse [with increased

rain,]” Taggert said. “The more it rains the worse water quality is,

especially at these outlets. The difference between wet and dry

grades is really amazing. We had a lot more beaches get Fs this

year.”

Caustin encouraged people to pay attention to water-quality grades

and other warnings before swimming in the ocean. Beachgoers should

refrain from swimming at least three days after it rains, stay away

from storm drains and especially steer clear of the Santa Ana River,

which is the epitome of a storm drain.

“It’s like an armpit over there,” Caustin said of the area both

north and south of the river, depending on which way the current is

flowing.

For children and older adults, whose immune systems are

undeveloped and impaired, swimming in polluted waters can be very

dangerous, Caustin said. People should not only heed the most current

water-quality warnings, but be aware of previous reports.

“If a beach has been closed 10 times over the last two months, I

would not want to recreate in it even if it is reopened because it

has a high propensity for pollution.”

* LOLITA HARPER is the enterprise and investigative reporter for

the Daily Pilot. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by e-mail at

lolita.harper@latimes.com.