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Area beaches get high marks for cleanliness
Heal the Bay issues annual report card
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More from EnvironmentVentura County's ocean water quality continued to improve for the sixth consecutive year, giving the county the distinction of having the cleanest beaches in Southern California, according to a report released Wednesday.
However, the county monitors only 11 beaches during the winter when rainfall brings more pollution from runoff so a full picture of the water quality is not available.
Heal the Bay's annual report card showed 85 percent of the 356 beaches monitored in Southern California had very good or excellent water quality, but five of the most polluted beaches in the state were in Los Angeles County.
In Ventura County, the notoriously polluted Kiddie Beach at Channel Islands Harbor showed improvement for the second year straight. During the summer monitoring months, San Buenaventura Beach, south of the drain at San Jon Road, was the only location that received a C grade.
"In Ventura County, it's generally good news and people should feel good about going to the beach," said Heal the Bay President Mark Gold.
Winter water quality was rated as excellent at the 11 beaches monitored and only Ventura Harbor's Peninsula Beach, north of the south jetty, and Silver Strand, at San Nicholas Avenue south of the jetty, received B grades.
Gold said part of the reason the county's beaches did so well is because most of the county's water drains into a few rivers. The Santa Clara River, the county's largest watershed, rarely reaches the ocean.
"It shows that the Ventura County beaches compared to other beaches are in good condition and the public shouldn't have any second thoughts about visiting our beaches," said Richard Hauge, coordinator of the ocean monitoring program for the Ventura County Environmental Health Division.
Because of budget constraints, the county has been scaling back on the number of beaches it monitors in the winter. The state mandates testing be done on 56 beaches in the summer.
Gold said it's a shame more water testing isn't done during the winter, as beaches are used year-round.
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