California's Most Polluted Beaches Revealed in Latest Report.
Heal the Bay, a nonprofit group based in Santa Monica, released its 33rd annual Beach Report Card yesterday, with information about how safe California’s beaches are for swimming. According to the report, 95 percent of California’s beaches logged clean water-quality scores between April and October 2022, the months when we’re most likely to swim in the ocean. Only 23 of the more than 400 beaches in the state had worrisome levels of pollution during those warmer months, the report found. However, during wet weather, water quality tends to drop precipitously, as rain flushes trash, chemicals and fecal matter into the ocean. One major factor in the decline was large sewage spills. These were the dirtiest beaches in California in 2022: Santa Monica Pier, Linda Mar Beach, Marlin Park, Erckenbrack Park, Tijuana River Mouth, Pillar Point Harbor at Capistrano Avenue, Marina del Rey Mother’s Beach, Poche Beach, Gull Park.
