A list of California beaches with the most polluted water has four San Diego locations in the top 10, according to a report released by a Santa Monica environmental group.
Beaches are graded for summer and winter months and ranked accordingly.
Topping the list of “Beach Bummers,” or beaches that scored the worst during the summer, was the Tijuana River Mouth, a marine conservation area in San Diego County that borders Mexico.
Ranked sixth last year, the beach soared to first place due to sewage from the Tijuana River, which annually discharges tens of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the ocean, the report said.
But there’s reason for hope, according to the report, thanks to funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for upgrades at the Punta Bandera treatment plant in Tijuana.
Also, Mexico recently started building a new $33 million treatment plant that is expected to replace the existing Punta Bandera plant when it is operational by the end of September.
In March, new U.S. funds in the 2024 appropriations package signed by President Joe Biden also secured $100 million to address the Tijuana River sewage crisis by repairing another treatment plant, the federal South Bay plant in San Ysidro, California.
Every San Diego-based beach that struggled this year was fouled by the sewage crisis, including the Tijuana Slough, which ranked fourth, followed by Imperial Beach at Seacoast Drive, which placed seventh. Considered an “open ocean” beach, Imperial Beach usually tends to benefit from “better tidal flushing,” to wash out contaminants, but the sewage was “enough to overwhelm natural dispersal mechanisms,” according to the report.
Next door, Border Field State Park near the Tijuana River Mouth ranked eighth, also because of sewage pollutants.
In Los Angeles County, two beaches made the Beach Bummer list. The Santa Monica Pier ranked third, dropping from the most polluted last year, and Mother’s Beach at Lifeguard Tower in Marina Del Ray placed ninth.
Analysts said that despite recent efforts such as stormwater capture systems and netting to deter birds, Santa Monica continues to face challenges from sewage runoff, bird poop, and people—as one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations. The enclosed Mothers Beach faces limited circulation and remains polluted despite cleanup efforts, they said.
Playa Blanca in Tijuana also found itself on the list, placing second, with some of the worst impacts from the Tijuana River.
The report also contains an Honor Roll, with nine Orange County beaches topping the list of those with the cleanest water.
Of more than 500 monitored beaches, only 12 made the Honor Roll. These beaches must maintain weekly water quality testing and A+ quality grades in both summer and winter.
Beaches in Dana Point, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Laguna Beach, San Diego, and Ventura made the cut.
Most notably, the Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego has been placed on the Honor Roll for three consecutive years now. Other honored beaches include Riviera Beach in San Clemente, Emerald Bay Beach in Laguna Beach, Trinidad Lane Beach in Huntington Beach, County Line Beach in Ventura, and Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.
Only two beaches made the list last year, but typically around 30 to 50 beaches make the cut, according to the report, which is usually dominated by Southern California beaches.
Heavy rainfall last year and record rainfall in Southern California in February 2024 eliminated several contenders as more pollutants were washed into the water.
“This was especially evident in February when Southern California experienced record-high storms, severely impacting water quality and disqualifying many regular Honor Roll contenders from the region,” the report reads.
Some beaches in Central and Northern California counties also do not sample water quality year-round, making it harder for them to be ranked.
