Who has better beaches? (Torrance: swimming, nicest, best weather)

[adysmom]

Originally Posted by kidcanaduh

Ever notice next to no one swims in the ocean in greater LA?

If you see someone swimming in the ocean without a drysuit they usually end up in the hospital afterwards. LA dumps raw sewage directly into the ocean which then washes up directly on the beach.

Thats why I call Los Angeles a cesspool, Because it is In more ways that one

[BRinSM]

i swim in the ocean weekly and I haven't died yet. the water certainly isn't clean, but I don't think thousands of people would go swimming every weekend if they were going to get hepatitis or VD. also, LA doesn't dump its sewage into the ocean. actually, it treats the sewage before releasing the water back into the ocean. the only time raw sewage is dumped into the ocean is when runoff from rain storms overloads the treatment plant. and we all know how often it rains here in LA.

[LASam]

The following link shows water quality throughout the LA County area

Heal the Bay | Beach Report Card | Weekly - Grade Map for Los Angeles County, CA (except Long Beach)

Definately do not swim within 3 days of rain, or if there have been any sewage spills. Otherwise, it is completely safe to swim in the blue dot areas of the map contained in the link above. Plenty of people get in the ocean, from OC all the way up through Malibu and everywhere in between. I've gone in several times this summer (usually at Will Rogers State Beach) and haven't had any health problems.

As an aside, threads like this one are why I constantly find myself defending LA. There are a lot of posters on here who try to spread negative misinformation about the city. This leads me to try to drop in more realistic information so people using this forum as a reference are not mislead.

[Mike121]

I've been doing a lot of ocean swimming in prep for my next triathlon. I feel fine.

kidcanaduh and adysmom are clearly exaggerating.

According to the same Heal-the-Bay report mentioned above, San Diego's beaches have "A" quality 97% of the time in dry weather. LA county beaches have "A" 88% of the time. If you ignore the results from Long Beach harbor, which has a tremendous amount of ship traffic, LA and San Diego are about the same.

That being said, Santa Monica Pier, Avalon, and Marie Canyon are too often unsafe.

[kidcanaduh]

Like it or not, LA and Boston continue to pipe raw sewage into the ocean.

[Mike121]

All sewage for LA is fully processed at the Hyperion Treatment Plant, and has been so since 1988.

There are sewage spills though, which are unacceptable, but, on a day to day basis, the sewage from LA is given full secondary treatment.

The stormwater system is untreated, which is unfortunate.

But, like it or not, the assertion that LA pipes raw sewage into the ocean is incorrect.

[LASam]

Originally Posted by kidcanaduh

Like it or not, LA and Boston continue to pipe raw sewage into the ocean.

Do you have some sort of backing for this assertion? You keep saying it but not providing proof. Looks like they stopped dumping "raw sewage" back in 1925. Check out this info on Hyperion:

History of Sewage Treatment in Los Angeles

[kidcanaduh]

A New Times Article stated Boston and LA still dump sewage into the big O. Things might've changed since the article was written, which was in the 90s. LA still has 2 spills a day or so.

Until recently, Halifax also dumped ALL of its raw sewage into the O.

Toronto too. All of TOs street drains dump directly into Lake Ontario. All road salt, fertilizer, pet waste motor oil and other contaminants goes directly into the lake.

TO beaches are always busy but next to no one swims in the lake. When I visited LA a few years ago I also noticed thousands of people on the beach but no one in the water. I asked people there why this was and they said because LA sewage is pumped into the O.

Maybe things have changed. I doubt it. From the chart you posted you can see Sana Monica pier has 77 (or whatever it is) violations since April 1st. That's 77 violations in 120 or so days. Almost one every other day. And that's only in one spot.

Also, in 2005 or 6 LA was facing 8 million dollars in fines for illegal dumping in the O, not sure if they were convicted.

Its not believable that Mike only wears a wetsuit because the water is cold in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. He wears it to protect himself from the polluted water.

[Jaymum]

And thank god LASam that you come in to rescue us from threads like this with some honest facts. Because our society has a sick tendency to tear things down rather than celebrate them and work to improve them. The city of Los Angeles is not the only victim of this psychology.

No large city has perfectly clean ocean water, but I have found LA's and San Diego's to both be clean and enjoyable. I've swam countless times in Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice, and walked through the water with my girl in Redondo Beach. Never have I gotten sick, developed a rash, or seen garbage/sewage in the water.

Honestly, this negativity is nonsense. To see REAL polluted beaches, you guys should have been to the NYC and Jersey shore in the 80s. The amount of trash, and even medical waste on the sand and in the water was sickening. Fortunately, the dumping practices that lead to such pollution have long since ceased and these beaches are now, for the most part, immaculate.

I can't really choose between SD, OC and LA beaches; I love them all!

[Sorcerer68]

South Redondo (the "avenues") and Torrance Beach are the nicest beaches with the best weather in the Southland. I've been swimming in the ocean there for years. It's protected due to the geography and has the nicest weather as well.