Colorado Lagoon. File photo.
The 2014 to 2015 Annual Beach Report Card by Heal the Bay, released today, gave the City of Long Beach all “A” grades, including seven “A+” grades.
A release issued Wednesday by the city recapped the grades given by Heal the Bay, with 15 out of 15 beaches sampled earning “A” grades from April through October 2014, the testing period mandated by the state—two more Long Beach beaches with “A” grades compared to last year.
Long Beach received two “B” grades during the winter dry months.
“Our water quality continues to show big improvements thanks to our investments in technology and infrastructure improvements,” said Mayor Robert Garcia in a statement. “We also need to thank our neighboring cities who have worked closely with us to keep the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers clean.”
The Colorado Lagoon and Alamitos Bay, areas targeted for water quality improvements, received five “A+” grades and one “A” grade.
“Many local and regional initiatives have helped improve our beaches greatly and we are proud of our perfect 100 percent ‘A’ grades during the summer dry weather,” Third District Councilmember Suzie Price said in a statement.
According to the release, investments, funding and partnerships have helped improve Long Beach water quality.
Such ventures include increased trash-capturing devices in regional storm drains, the Los Angeles County Termino Avenue Storm Drain Project’s oil and grease absorbent sponges, retractable catch basin screens and diversion systems.
Additionally, contaminated sediment removal has occurred at the Colorado Lagoon and a $4.9 million grant from the State Water Resources Control Board Clean Beaches Initiative Grant Program has been used to construct three Low Flow Diversion Systems and two Vortex Separation System devices to divert pollution.
This year’s ratings are an improvement over 2013’s Heal the Bay grades as well, when 10 of 13 beaches graded received a mixture of “A” and “B” scores.