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Every year Heal the Bay assigns letter grades to California’s beaches based on their cleanliness, or lack thereof. And for the past seven years, one beach in particular has been ranked first or second on the organization’s “Beach Bummer” list, denoting the most polluted waters in the state.
Cowell’s Beach is a popular surf spot and heavily trafficked beach that stretches west of Santa Cruz’ pier to the cliffs alongside Westcliff Drive. The wave itself is about as friendly of a beginner wave as you’ll find on the west coast, which explains why it’s so popular. Gentle rollers, a lineup full of soft tops and surf school students, and a mellow vibe that’s nothing like the other lineups across (the real) Surf City make it a go to destination for a lot of surfers. And I mean a lot of surfers on a given day, because the crowd can get about as thick as any other one the west coast. But somehow, securing the unfavorable title as California’s most polluted beach for the third year in a row doesn’t keep the crowds away according to Heal the Bay’s 2016 Report Card.
The “F” grade was a result of a lot of factors, For one, 62% of samples taken here exceeded at least one state bacterial standard over the summer. City officials and the Cowell’s Working Group think the bacteria is simply coming from the pigeons that live underneath and on the pier, leaving their droppings in the water underneath. Their planned solution is to install 150 feet of steel exclusion grating underneath the pier in hopes that it keeps the birds from staying there. Save the Waves’ Nik Strong-Cvetich says water contaminated by birds was a similar issue in both Pismo Beach and Santa Monica. The exclusion grating projects there solved those specific contamination problems.
“We have brought in an external technical advisory committee to make sure we are not overlooking other scientific explanations for the bacteria,” Strong-Cvetich told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. “We want to identify or rule out any other possibilities.”
Meanwhile, the exclusion grating is expected to be completed here in June.
Editor’s Note: Learn more about Save the Waves’ efforts to Clean Cowell’s here.
