Check Your Local Beach's Water Quality Grade Before Going Swimming

New Heal the Bay campaign promotes checking local waters before diving in.

By Jon Steely / Special to The Malibu Times

Malibu and other Southern Californian beachgoers might stop when they see the sign that reads, "'It Could Be Really Icky in the Water," posted on lifeguard towers. And they might not go in the water, depending on what other information they find, which is exactly what local environmental organization Heal the Bay wants people to take into consideration before they dive into local ocean waters.

In a continued effort to protect the environment and improve public safety, Heal the Bay has launched a new ad campaign promoting its Beach Report Card, by posting the warnings on 30 billboards installed on Los Angeles County lifeguard towers. Locally, the billboards are found on lifeguard towers at Nicholas Canyon, Trancas, Zuma, Surfrider, Las Tuna, Topanga and Will Rogers.
The billboards "encourage ocean users to think twice about the water and to use our new text messaging service before getting into the water," said Matthew King, communications director at Heal the Bay, which provides grades for more than 500 beaches statewide. In addition to the "Icky" warning, the bill boards post a text code for that specific beach a mobile user could type in to "get real-time water quality grades right there on the sand," King said.

With the Beach Report Card, Heal the Bay collects technical water quality data and puts it in a user-friendly form, posting water quality grades for California's beaches, ranging from A to F, based on the health risks of swimming or surfing at a particular location. Typically, the report card is published online at healthebay.org, or in local newspapers.

"The Beach Report Card was created, with the hopes that the public will use it to make informed decisions about the best beaches to go to, or avoid, to best protect their health," James Alamillo, spokesperson for Beach Report Card, said. "You can make decisions that you are comfortable with based on your own individual level of risk. Surfers may be okay with a letter grade of C if other surfing conditions are excellent, whereas parents may want nothing less than an A grade for the safety and health of their children."

The Beach Report Card started in Los Angeles County, but is now available for locations throughout the state from San Diego up as far north as Humboldt, Alamillo said.

"Most recently, we have added the text messaging ability to get information to the public in a way that is time relevant and easily accessible," Alamillo said. "If you are not at a computer, you can text us to get a water quality report and there is no additional charge from Heal the Bay, other than what it would cost to send a text. The text codes for the report card are now up on lifeguard towers at beaches throughout Santa Monica Bay and will remain up through the summer."

Mike Grimmer, data analyst for Heal the Bay, collects the data and performs the task of taking the scientific findings and converting them into a simple letter grade for the Beach Report Card. The grades are based on daily and weekly fecal bacteria pollution levels in the surf zone.

"A beach is innocent until proven guilty," Grimmer said. "A beach always starts out with a grade of an A-Plus. Only when the level of bacteria exceeds the state standard will it have points subtracted from its total score. We see problematic locations more during wet weather and near storm drains, creeks, rivers and enclosed beaches. Over 90 percent of beaches that receive good letter grades are in dry weather and not near storm drains, creeks, or rivers."