Santa Monica Pier And Mother’s Beach Among Most Polluted Waters In California
deadline.comHeal the Bay‘s annual Beach Report Card, which assigns A through F grades based on bacterial pollution levels, has named the landmark Santa Monica Pier beach and Mother’s Beach in its top ten of most polluted beach waters.
Santa Monica Pier is plagued by roosting bird droppings and urban runoff, coming in ranked third on the list. Mother’s Beach suffers from very poor water circulation leading to chronic bacterial exceedances, placing it ninth.
The report assesses 700 Pacific Coast beaches from Washington to Baja. This year saw an overall quality decline across the state, attributed to winter storm runoffs. “The city of Santa Monica has wrestled for years with poor water quality at the Pier,” the report noted. “California’s 20th century water infrastructure was not designed to address the challenges faced by climate change in the 21st century.” Out of the water, the news was no better.
The Santa Monica Police Department is investigating a group assault that forced the early closure of the Santa Monica Pier on July 14.
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