{"id":5449,"date":"2026-07-25T23:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5449"},"modified":"2026-07-25T23:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:37:22","slug":"marin-beaches-get-mixed-grades-in-water-quality-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5449","title":{"rendered":"Marin beaches get mixed grades in water quality report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A majority of Marin beaches received top marks for water quality in an annual assessment, but a few freshwater sites have brought down the county\u2019s average.<\/p>\n

Read more San Francisco marine patrol finds body floating near Golden Gate Bridge<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201creport card\u201d by the nonprofit organization Heal the Bay gave an F grade to two sites along Lagunitas Creek: the Inkwells near Lagunitas and a spot near Whitehouse Pool outside Inverness. Also, a site near the Green Bridge just south of Point Reyes Station scored a D during dry summer weather.<\/p>\n

The organization grades California beaches and some freshwater recreational sites based on fecal bacteria levels in the water. Marin only collects data for the report from April through October.<\/p>\n

Overall, 78% of Marin sites received an A grade for dry summer weather, a drastic drop from the five-year average of 97%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat drop is notable because it happened during a drier-than-normal year, when we\u2019d normally expect water quality to improve, not decline,\u201d said Arti Kundu, project manager for the county\u2019s Environmental Health Services Division.<\/p>\n

Kundu said Marin received about 21 inches of rain between April 2025 and March of this year, about 8% below the 10-year average. Drier years almost always mean better water quality, because most of the bacteria measured gets flushed into creeks and the bay by rain washing over streets, storm drains and land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen summer dry-weather scores drop anyway, that\u2019s a signal the elevated bacteria isn\u2019t primarily a storm-driven, one-time event,\u201d Kundu said. \u201cIt points toward a more persistent source: groundwater seepage, aging septic or sewer infrastructure, or wildlife inputs that doesn\u2019t depend on rainfall to reach the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from the creek sites, McNears Beach in San Rafael, which received a C, was the only Marin site to not earn an A for the summer dry period.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Lower quality water in creek sites during dry periods is not uncommon, said Rebecca Schwartz Lesberg, executive director of the Marin Conservation League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised,\u201d Schwartz Lesberg said. \u201cIn drier weather, creeks see lower flows. In a high wildlife usage area you can get a very natural accumulation of wildlife waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the grades are based on concentrations of fecal bacteria contamination such as E. coli, the analysis doesn\u2019t go as deep to name the source.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditional monitoring would help us learn more,\u201d Kundu said. \u201cThe value of collecting years of data give us the ability to track trends and see the outliers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kundu said over the past year, 23 of the 31 sites the county monitors had at least one water quality advisory warning.<\/p>\n

The most recent samplings took place the week of July 13. Chicken Ranch Ditch at Channel B, Inkwells, Green Bridge, Whitehouse Pool and Dillon Beach Ditch had advisories in effect as a result of contamination, Kundu said.<\/p>\n

The county publishes weekly reports at bit.ly\/4fmy6LK.<\/p>\n

Despite the lower summer dry weather average, Kundu said this year\u2019s report is an improvement.<\/p>\n

In the report released last year, Chicken Ranch Beach at Channel B, on the west side of Tomales Bay near Inverness, received an F grade because of consistently high bacteria levels during summer and wet weather. The score earned the site a spot on the \u201cbeach bummer\u201d list, ranking fourth among the 10 beaches with the worst water quality in the state.<\/p>\n

Read more Wisconsin\u2019s capital city cancels signature events, grapples with fallout from police shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

No Marin sites were on that list this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo while our share of A\/B grades dropped countywide, our worst individual sites didn\u2019t rank among the worst in the state this year,\u201d Kundu said.<\/p>\n

Wet weather grades for the county were just above the historical average of 84%, with 90% receiving A or B grades, likely a result of lower rainfall, the report says. The county does not monitor beaches in winter months.<\/p>\n

There is some variance in the number of sites that qualify for the Heal the Bay report, said Naomi Meurice, water quality data specialist for the nonprofit and one of the lead authors of the report.<\/p>\n

Meurice said a site must be monitored at least 75% of the weeks in the reporting period to qualify for a dry summer grade. A location has to have at least one wet weather sample during the reporting period. Of 27 sites reported to the state, only 18 Marin sites met the threshold for dry summer grades and 20 sites qualified for a wet weather grade.<\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s report, 28 sites met the threshold for dry summer grades and 30 for wet grades.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarin County typically has pretty good water quality, mostly A\u2019s and B\u2019s, and that\u2019s great to see, especially during the summer dry period,\u201d Meurice said.<\/p>\n

The Environmental Action Committee of West Marin partners with the county and the Point Reyes National Seashore to collect water quality data at Drakes Beach and Drakes Estero. Neither site was included in this year\u2019s report, but they are included in the county\u2019s weekly monitoring site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis data lets visitors know when it\u2019s safe to recreate in the water, promoting public health and informing the need for action when water quality exceedances occur,\u201d said Ashley Eagle-Gibbs, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin. \u201cWe also amplify local results by timely sharing water quality exceedances in West Marin on our social media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the Heal the Bay report, Eagle-Gibbs said \u201cthe recent lower grade is concerning, as are the sewage spills that occurred during this period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report says the county recorded 10 sewage spills releasing 55,000 gallons of raw sewage, including one spill in early 2026 that released 42,000 gallons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collection system in the area was overwhelmed due to a combination of historic King tides, an atmospheric river, and lagoon storm water entering the neighborhood,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spills were promptly reported, and appropriate measures were taken to mitigate any potential impact on the environment and public health,\u201d county health officials said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Schwartz Lesberg said she is heartened to see that sewage spills across the state have dropped dramatically to only about 2 million gallons, down from a combined 50 million gallons from the prior two years.<\/p>\n

However, Marin\u2019s number of spills underscores the fact that its \u201cstormwater and wastewater infrastructure has to be a priority for our region,\u201d Schwartz Lesberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMCL agrees with Heal the Bay\u2019s assessment that aging infrastructure, aging stormwater and wastewater systems, are a problem and it\u2019s a threat to health that leads to water quality issues,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cThe fact that Heal the Bay does this is such a service to the state of California and beachgoers. It\u2019s an amazing resource, you can go back many years to see how beaches are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more 49ers\u2019 GM Lynch addresses Bosa, Warner, Kittle, Aiyuk to start training camp<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A majority of Marin beaches received top marks for water quality in an annual assessment, but a few freshwater sites have brought down the county\u2019s average.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMarin beaches get mixed grades in water quality report - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5449\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marin beaches get mixed grades in water quality report - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A majority of Marin beaches received top marks for water quality in an annual assessment, but a few freshwater sites have brought down the county\u2019s average.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5449\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-25T23:37:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Marin beaches get mixed grades in water quality report\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-25T23:37:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449\"},\"wordCount\":1146,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dc76261b4b89ac4763510e96de20fb93.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5449\",\"name\":\"Marin beaches get mixed grades in water quality report - 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