Santa Cruz beach among most polluted in state

According to the latest report from Heal the Bay, Northern California is home to seven out of the state’s 10 most polluted beaches.

Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz made it’s ninth consecutive appearance on the Beach Bummer list, coming in 8th.

After three years of claiming the number one spot, Cowell Beach dropped to number 3 in 2017.

The reason: poor circulation and runoff from polluted rivers or storm drains.

Heal the Bay says getting in the water at a polluted beach can lead to a respiratory or gastrointestinal illness.

“No one should get sick from a day at the beach. And so, we published the beach water quality in a really simple A through F letter grade,” Karen Vu of the group told KPIX 5. “It’s a simple way for people to go to the beach, they can make more informed and more educated decisions about which beach they want to go to.

The City of Santa Cruz said it’s taken measures to reduce beach garbage and improve storm drain flow near Cowell Beach.

Heal the Bay’s rankings are based on levels of weekly bacterial pollution measured by county health agencies.