La Jolla Beaches Are at the Top of the Class

The water quality along the beaches of La Jolla ranks among the highest in California, according to a report released Wednesday by the environmental group Heal the Bay. Monitored beaches at six beach locations in La Jolla earned the highest honor during dry weather from April 2010 through March 2011.

While beaches in Pacific Beach including Tourmaline Surf Park and in Encinitas appeared on the group’s honor roll, several in San Diego County received failing grades. The largest concentration of polluted beaches in the county were near the Mexican Border, including Border Field State Park, the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Reserve and the south end of Imperial Beach.

Also receiving F grades were two locations at Mission Bay—Bonita Cove and the visitor’s center—along with Shoreline Beach Park at Shelter Island and the outlet of the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside.

Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card assigns letter grades to beaches based on levels of weekly bacteria pollution. No San Diego-area beaches were on the list of Top 10 “Beach Bummers.”

Of 76 monitoring locations in San Diego County, 93 percent received grades of either A or B in the report during dry weather. The figure dropped to 72 percent after a rainstorm. Most beaches statewide had very good to excellent water quality, according to the report, with 400 of 445 beaches receiving A or B grades during the summer dry period.

Water quality along California continues to drop dramatically during rainy weather, which the report attributes to the state’s struggles to reduce stormwater runoff pollution. Half of the sampling locations in Southern California found fair to poor water quality during wet weather, according to the report. Wet-weather grades were actually slightly better than the seven-year average, despite the heavy rains this winter and spring.

ns = No sample.

City News Service contributed to this report.