San Diego County had excellent water quality at beaches this summer. But the group that issues the Beach Report Card is worried about the loss of state funding for routine testing in 2011.
In its latest survey, Heal the Bay assigned an A-to-F letter grade to 453 beaches along the California coast, based on levels of bacterial pollution reported from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The better the grade a beach receives, the lower the risk of illness to ocean users.
This past summer, 92 percent of the sites received A or B grades.
The 77 monitored beaches in San Diego County received an A or B grade, with 76 A's and one B.
But Amanda Griesbach with Heal the Bay said there's no money for water quality testing along California beaches starting next January due to the state's budget crisis.
"We're basically on borrowed time," said Griesbach. "We're using state bond money that the state water quality board has given us for the past three years since over $1 million was cut out of the state budget for water quality monitoring."
She said there's no guarantee the state bond money will be available again to offset the funds eliminated from the state budget for testing.
Griesbach said cutbacks in testing means a significant health risk for millions of people who swim in the ocean each year.
