Water at Beaches Gets High Marks for Cleanliness

Water at most beaches bordering Santa Monica Bay received high marks for cleanliness for a second consecutive month, officials from the environmental group Heal the Bay said Thursday.

Of the 61 locations where water is monitored daily or weekly for bacterial content, 53 spots received grades in the A or B range for July, said Heal the Bay spokesman James Alamillo. Fifty-two locations received As and Bs in June.

Alamillo said the lack of summer rain and consequent runoff have helped keep water clean.

“Water quality throughout the bay has been spectacular,” he said.

The only waters in which bacteria levels earned Fs in July were around the Santa Monica Pier, near the Ashland Avenue storm drain in Santa Monica’s Ocean Park neighborhood, and at Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey.

Effluent from a storm drain near the pier is diverted to the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, Alamillo said. Heal the Bay and Santa Monica officials are investigating why waters there continue to be unhealthful, he said.