Hollywood Beach, Silver Strand Beach, and Hobie Beach made Heal the Bay’s Honor Roll for their perfect year-round water-quality grades in 2020. The report was released Tuesday finding excellent water quality at most California’s beaches.

A total of 35 California beaches earned spots on Heal the Bay’s Honor Roll. Ventura County had seven beaches make it on the list, with five being in the Oxnard area.

Ventura County beaches making the list were

• Hollywood Beach
• Hobie Beach at the Channel Islands Harbor
• Oils Pier Beach
• Silver Strand Beach
• Ormond Beach, 50 yards north of Oxnard Industrial drain
• Ormond Beach at Arnold Rd.
• Faria County Park

View Heal the Bay’s complete report here: https://healthebay.org/beachreportcard2021/

Heal the Bay’s report assigns letter grades to beaches based on water quality and pollution, ranging from A to F. According to the report, 93% of California beaches received an A or B grade for summer 2020, roughly on par with the five-year average. During dry winter conditions, 92% of beaches scored an A or B, but during wet weather, just 57% of beaches received top marks.

The report notes that the wet weather results may be skewed by lower-than-usual water sampling during the period, with five counties not collecting any samples during wet weather. But the report’s authors noted that the poor wet-weather grades are concerning, given that rainfall in coastal counties was 41% below the historical average over the winter, yet the beach quality grades still fell.

Editor’s Note: this story was published on June 30, 2021.