Water quality must be consistent

Who would have guessed it? All it takes to keep our beaches and oceans clean is a bit of a drought.

A report released last week by Heal the Bay, a water-quality watchdog group based in Santa Monica, found that the quality of water of Huntington Beach was just fine when the weather was dry. All along Huntington’s coast, from Bolsa Chica to the Santa Ana River, the water got A or A+ grades from the group in its annual Beach Report Card survey. Those superlative grades included the old trouble spots south of the Huntington Beach Pier.

That’s the good news ? but not exactly unexpected. By now, we all know ? we do, don’t we? ? that the real trouble and danger comes after it rains, when our storm drains empty into the ocean or Huntington Harbour and the Santa Ana River is spewing out trash.

And the Beach Report Card proves it, again. After it rained, the water’s cleanliness and subsequent safety dropped. Only Bolsa Chica, Sea Gate Lagoon in the harbor, Sunset Beach and Surfside Beach remained OK for swimming. The rest of the beach became off limits. Parts of the harbor and water at 11th and Magnolia streets earned F grades.

What to make of these results? First, the obvious: If it hasn’t rained, our beaches are generally safe and clean. But more telling ? and more importantly ? the results show that there still is much more to be done to ensure the waters that we all enjoy, the waters that help drive business to our community, are clean and safe. Finding ways to treat water needs to remain a priority. Each of us doing the little things each day is a must.

Our ocean should be earning an “A,” all the time.