Newport Area Beaches Earn Top Marks for Water Quality

Local beaches passed with flying colors this week in Heal the Bay's annual beach report card.

The nonprofit environmental organization based in Santa Monica analyzes more than 440 California beaches per year, using a grading scale of A to F. Grades are based on water quality, bacteria and pollution.

Information on each beach is gathered from May to September. Scores are based on how safe the water is for swimming.

"Typically, one of our top priorities from City Council on down is ... to maintain our beaches,” said Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff. “We want our beaches to be as clean as possible and reduce our bacteria input. This year, we were really successful.”

Balboa Pier, the Wedge, Crystal Cove at Pelican Point and several street points of Newport Bay were among the beach areas that earned a grade of A+, which Kiff attributes to improved cleaning control by the city.

“A couple of things that have been under our control are more aggressive storm drain cleaning, street sweeping, and the catch basin protection program for the dry season flows,” Kiff said.

Among the beach areas that received a mark of A were Newport Bay Garnet Avenue Beach, Park Avenue Beach and Newport Dunes east and west.

Kiff said improved behavior by beach-goers has also helped keep the beach scores high.

 “I think people have learned over time what they should and shouldn’t be doing to protect the bay and the ocean,” Kiff said.

“The thing that’s always tough to quantify is some years, you just have a really good year,” Kiff added. “I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit that sometimes the weather works perfectly and you just don’t have the same amount of urban runoff.”