Heal the Bay of Santa Monica released its annual Report Card for the state’s beaches yesterday. It was bad news for Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz. Not only did it receive an F. It was deemed the worst beach in the state, or rather, the “monitoring location with the worst dry weather water quality.”
While four Los Angeles beaches were listed in the Beach Bummer Worst Ten list, they were bracketed by two Santa Cruz beaches, Cowell and Capitola, which took the first and tenth spots respectively.
Officials are blaming natural causes. There is more kelp than in previous years, as well as more sea lions and birds, which deposit their waste there. Researchers from Stanford are trying to figure out why this is, but as County Water Quality Manager Steve Peters says, “There’s nothing you can really do about nature.”
This is not the first year that Cowell Beach appeared in the list, but it never appeared in the “worst” spot. Surfers can take comfort in the fact that the water is cleaner a bit offshore.
Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel and KSBW.
