Four Bay Area beaches earned failing grades in water quality and three others passed with flying colors last year.
Three beaches in Foster City and one in San Francisco received failing grades from Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica, California-based environmental advocacy group that released its annual beach report card on Tuesday.
Two San Francisco beaches and another in Alameda made the “Honor Roll” with year-round A-plus grades.
Using samples collected by public officials on dry days last April through October, Foster City's Erckenbrack, Gull and Marlin Parks earned spots in the nonprofit's "Beach Bummers" list, as did San Francisco's Windsurfer Circle at Candlestick Point.
The "Beach Bummers" consist of the 10 worst beaches in terms of water quality. Erckenbrack Park had the second-worst water quality during dry days last summer of any beach in the state, appearing on the list for a second consecutive year.
"This area of the San Francisco Bay has had a known record of poor water quality," Heal the Bay said of the beach in a report. "This beach lies within an engineered patchwork of enclosed channels which are impacted by dry weather runoff from the surrounding residential and commercial development."
Alameda's Crown Beach at Sunset Rd., San Francisco's China Beach at Sea Cliff Ave. and Ocean Beach at Lincoln Way all had excellent quality across all seasons and weather conditions, according to the report.
Seven beaches measured in Sonoma County, meanwhile, earned A-plus grades last summer, and all 24 evaluated in Marin County received A or B grades. Ninety-three percent of San Francisco's beaches did the same, down slightly from a 96 percent five-year average.
All seven beaches in Alameda and Contra Costa counties earned no worse than a B during dry days last summer, compared to only four of seven in San Mateo County.
In fact, San Mateo County had as many beaches with failing grades (three) as Los Angeles and San Diego counties combined. San Mateo County had five "Beach Bummers" in 2019, four of which weren’t measured at all last year.
"This is alarming as this stretch of coastline has experienced high levels of fecal pollution and is very popular with beachgoers who are now without any information on potential contamination," the report said.
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