A rarity for the past decade, Humboldt County did not have a single beach on a list of the state’s top 10 most polluted beaches.
Since 2013, Clam Beach County Park at Strawberry Creek made the worst-in-the-state list eight times. Luffenholtz Beach made two of those years and last year featured Moonstone Beach County Park on the list for the first time. However, Clam Beach still received an F grade for summer water quality.
“Unfortunately, we had a lot of beaches with bad grades, so maybe it’s not a great achievement to make it off the list this year,” said Katherine Pease, director of science and policy with Heal the Bay, a nonprofit that creates the list with county-submitted data measuring beach water contaminants.
“Regardless of the sources, people can avoid exposure to bacterial pollution by avoiding contact with water for a few days after major rainstorms. Another general rule is to swim, surf, and play in the ocean away from creek mouths and stormwater discharge pipes,” Jennifer Kalt, director of Humboldt Baykeeper, said in an email.
