LA County Beach Closures Hit New Record High For Second Year - LAT

[hatrack]

Beach closures in Los Angeles County set a record for the second year in a row as the county and many cities continued to resist efforts to reduce urban runoff, an environmental group said in a report scheduled to be released today.

Beaches on Los Angeles County's 74 miles of coastline were closed or had hazardous-bacteria warnings posted on 1,469 days last year — the highest in the state — the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council said in its 15th annual "Testing the Waters" nationwide beach report.

Conditions improved in Orange and San Diego counties, with closures and postings down by roughly 400 days each. This was encouraging for Orange County, which, in 2002 had the highest number of closures and postings in the state, the environmental group said. Since then, the Orange County Sanitation District has targeted restaurants and food processors to try to keep workers from dumping grease into sewers. Ventura County's numbers also dropped.

Beaches are closed when county officials identify an immediate health hazard. Advisories or postings warn beachgoers that bacterial levels in the water exceed health standards. Nationwide, more beach closings and advisories were reported last year than any other time in the 15 years the environmental group has been observing them, likely the result of improved monitoring, the environmental group said. However, it's difficult to compare Southern California beaches with others because of differences in monitoring. Southern California saw much more rainfall than average in the winter of 2004. October, in fact, was the wettest October on record in a century in downtown Los Angeles. Rainfall tends to flush more dirty runoff into the ocean, causing more closures. The dirtiest spot in Los Angeles County was Surfrider County Beach, in Malibu, which was closed or posted advisories 137 days last year. Poche County Beach in San Clemente topped Orange County's list with 107 days. Doheny State Beach in Dana Point also had extended health warnings.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-beaches28jul28,1,5385769.story?coll=la-news-environment&ctrack=1&cset=true

[BlueEyedSon]

1. "posted on 1,469 days last year"... whoa, that must be a record!

last I counted, there were only 365 days total....

[wake.up.america]

2. Too bad, I live in a area where I can fill a 10 liter jar and take it ...

home to my kids and have no worry about them drinking the water.

[getmeouttahere]

3. Are you talking about ocean water?

other factors such as population and industry would also make it an apples and oranges comparison.

I grew up in Southern Oregon and our well water was incredible...but that well served just 3 homes, in an almost pristine environment compared to L.A.