Newport water quality improves in ’06

The bay and ocean around Newport Beach fared well last year, earning plenty of A grades, according to the 17th annual Beach Report Card, released Wednesday by Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay.

But the improved grades could be a result of a dry 2006, since the worst quality reports come during rainy times.

“I would agree to some extent that the lack of rainfall has definitely helped water quality, but you’ve got to take into consideration … that [water quality] is in the vocabulary of a lot of people now, much less agency people, and people are being a lot more responsible nowadays,” Heal the Bay spokesman James Alamillo said.

The mouth of the Santa Ana River continues to be the black eye of the local coastline, but being one of the biggest local watersheds, it’s to be expected, Orange County’s Ocean Water Protection Program spokeswoman Monica Mazur said. During dry weather, the area received an A, and during wet weather, it received an F, according to the report.

On the bay side, the water was looking good last year. Many areas received better grades than in 2005, including places like the bay at Grand Canal, which in 2005 received an F for wet weather and last year received an A.

Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said that if next year’s weather is wetter, residents and the city may have to work harder to keep the water clean, but for now, the city is celebrating its high marks.

“We’re always pleased to have good results from the Heal the Bay’s report card,” Kiff said. “I think they do a good job in those evaluations.”

Educational programs like beach cleanups have complemented city programs such as aggressive street cleaning, putting screens on storm drains and the newly constructed Newport Boulevard bioswale, which is an area that treats urban runoff by filtering it through weeds, grasses, sand, gravel rock and sunlight, Kiff said.