On a recent afternoon, signs posted at Mother’s Beach in Marina Del Rey warned people not to play or swim in the water. The reason? Unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria that can cause rashes, ear pain, eye irritation, and an upset stomach if the water’s swallowed.
Still, a few kids splashed around near the sign.
Regular beachgoers know that the coastline can get dirty after a winter storm, but many are less aware that the pollution remains an issue at some spots, even in the summer’s dry heat.
But do they care?
“Well, [I] never thought about it like that, but that’s a problem,” says Willie Paul, who brought his 2-year-old to Mother’s Beach.
After relaying the information to him about the polluted water, Paul was slightly concerned.
“You made me more cautious,” he says. “I won’t just let [my kid] go out there and splash water in his face, now that I know that.”
Other families at the beach were more alarmed.
“We’ve gotten here, paid for parking, and seen those signs. We’ve actually set up and we’re leaving because of the fact that we don’t really want our kids to be in the water,” says Ben Smith, who traveled with his family from England.
The presence of E. coli in beach water is typically caused by sewage spills or stormwater runoff –– which picks up trash and bacteria on the streets and drains into the ocean.
This problem is worse at Mother’s Beach because it’s enclosed in the Marina, which makes the water stagnant.
“There’s very low circulation, so any bacteria that enters the water is going to stay there for a long time,” says Annelisa Moe, who leads the water quality team at Heal The Bay.
Mother’s Beach, along with the Santa Monica Pier, consistently makes the organization’s “Beach Bummer” list –– ranking as one of the 10 worst for cleanliness on the West Coast.
Popular surf spots further north along Topanga and Malibu are also getting more polluted, due to intensifying winter storms that dump more rain into Los Angeles.
“We’re still seeing, in Malibu Creek at the beginning of the summer, the water levels there were much higher than what we’ve seen in past years,” Moe says. “We have more water flowing through and carrying that bacteria out to the beach.”
At Topanga Beach on a recent morning, surfers seemed undeterred by the poor water quality.
“I definitely have felt ear aches and not 100% after [surfing]. I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody, but to be honest, I go out and send it,” says Mo Magee, who surfs at Topanga Beach twice a week.
If anything, Magee sees the polluted water as a blessing in disguise –– he gets more waves to himself.
“When there’s a big downpour and our watershed of Topanga spits its guts out, I’m stoked because there’s nobody out, and I’m gonna score,” he says.
Every week, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health workers test beaches for E. coli levels. They have a web page with up-to-date water quality information –– so you can check whether a beach is clean before you go.