Be vigilant to be better than passing

When Heal the Bay’s 14th biannual beach grades came out last week

there were no surprises, just the same old frustrations.

The Santa Monica-based ocean watchdog group tests the waters off

California from one end to the other twice a year, once in the rainy

season and once in the dry season, and reports its findings by

grading beaches.

And each year Surf City fares in much the same way. Bolsa Chica

State Beach and the city beaches score high, and Huntington State

Beach scores dismally.

Last year Huntington squeaked by without a single F. Not so this

year.

In the wet season, three beaches -- the three southern most --

earned failing grades. The beach at Newland Street earned a D and

Beach Boulevard a C.

The poor rainy season grades could be attributed to the high

amount of rainfall this year, according to Mitzy Taggert, a staff

scientist with Heal the Bay.

We can’t control the amount of rainfall, nor would we really want

to cut back on it as it is essential to us. But improving these

grades means an effort from everyone -- residents and all those

living upstream of Huntington Beach. Huntington has done a fairly

good job of educating its residents, but it may be time to actively

educate people in inland cities.

Perhaps the city could form an alliance to inform inland residents

of the damage caused by littering or washing toxins into the storm

drains that lead to our beaches. In the busy summer months when they

all trek to the beaches here, maybe that’s the time to hit them with

it. Let’s post the beach grades and make a display of trash collected

each day to demonstrate just what our city maintenance workers clean

off the beaches before the crowds arrive.

Tourists won’t be appalled, they’ll be impressed.

But one problem still remains. Most all of the beaches scored well

in the dry season. Except the beach at Magnolia Street, which got a C

even in the dry season.

It is an enigma that has baffled scientists for years. But we

can’t give up. The search for an answer must continue. It seems as if

many have thrown up their hands in defeat. That mustn’t happen. If we

are going to continue using the ocean, especially in the south end of

town where AES power plant uses the water and where the sanitation

district has its outfall pipe, we must remain vigilant.