Water quality high in most area beaches

The bathing-suit-and-bikini set can splash around happily knowing they are unlikely to get sick frolicking in the water at Bay Area beaches, all but one of which are free of harmful bacteria and pollution, according to a statewide beach report card released Thursday.

But the one that didn’t make the grade — Marina Lagoon, in the Lakeshore Park area of San Mateo County — is pretty icky, getting an F for water quality and a No. 4 spot on the environmental group Heal the Bay’s Top 10 Beach Bummer list for California.

“We are definitely improving — water quality is going up,” said James Alamillo, urban programs manager for Heal the Bay, which has graded beaches in California annually for 27 years. “We as a state have invested in cleaning up our problem beaches and that has had a positive effect on these important coastal resources.”

The Santa Monica group, which analyzes data collected by health agencies, gave A or B grades to 94 percent of the 67 beaches it monitored in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties. Most of them — 84 percent — got A’s, the same percentage as the fiveyear average.

The picture in California overall was quite rosy, with 97 percent of the 416 beaches statewide receiving A’s or B’s for pathogen and bacteria levels. That’s higher than the five-year average of 94 percent. Several Bay Area beach locations received perfect scores for water quality.

Sharp Park, in San Mateo County, and San Francisco’s Crissy Field and Aquatic Park beaches received perfect A-plus grades.

Stinson and Muir beaches in Marin County, Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda, and Rockaway, Surfers, Roosevelt, Dunes, Venice and Francis beaches in San Mateo County all received A’s.

The best news was Baker Beach, where Lobos Creek washes into the ocean. It has fared badly over the past decade, finding itself No. 8 on the group’s “Top Ten Beach Bummer” list six years ago.

“This year, it improved. It got a B,” Alamillo said. “When you are getting a B after historically getting D’s and F’s, that’s something to highlight. If it continues to improve, it will be something to celebrate.”

San Francisco and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which has jurisdiction over Baker Beach, worked with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory over the past few years to clean storm drains and locate and eradicate the source of fecal coliform detected where Lobos Creek meets the ocean.

Marina Lagoon wasn’t the only beach in Northern California on the bummer list. Cowell and Capitola beaches, in Santa Cruz County, got an F and a D respectively, both among the worst 10 in California.

No. 1 on that list was Clam Beach County Park in Humboldt County. The bummer list was dominated by seven Southern California beaches, three of them in Los Angeles.

The study is one of the most comprehensive studies of bacteria at prime swimming and surfing locations around the state. It focuses mainly on pathogens that can cause intestinal problems, ear infections, skin rashes and respiratory ailments in swimmers.

Heal the Bay researchers do not test for oil or trash or study the health impacts on wildlife.