Thursday, July 05, 2007

Imperial Beach gets no respect

Forbes has a article in July's hot summer edition that's charmingly entitled, Death Beaches.

My goodness. That'll put a damper on your summer vacation. I willingly admit that I'm not the best title writer in the world, but I think they're overstating the case a wee bit.

They go on to give some good hints about swimming with a buddy, and shuffling your feet in the sand so the stingrays don't jab you with their barbs, and to swim parallel to the shore if you get caught in a rip tide. All very sensible.

The reason this article caught my attention was because it was mentioned in the Union-Trib. Imperial Beach was listed as one of the most polluted "death beaches". Ooh. Harsh.

Ok, yes. IB ocean water sometimes has issues. They're right on the border and there's a long standing problem with the fact that the sewage infrastructure in Tijuana has not kept up with the fast growing population of a border city, but I've just got to say that there are lots of other places in San Diego that have water quality issues. IB has their worst problems in the rainy season, but does that mean that overall they have the worst water quality? That's open for debate.

Just between you and me, I stay out of San Diego bay, and if you look at the weekly Heal the Bay report card, you will see that this week there are places that have a lower water quality grade than Imperial Beach. The OB jetty, Tide Beach Park in Solana Beach and the Mission Bay Visitors Center, for instance.

Poor IB. They've always been the Rodney Dangerfield of San Diego beaches. No respect at all. Well, thankfully they've got the world renown Sand Castle Contest coming up the weekend of July 28. That always makes them feel better, plus all the profits go to the Imperial Beach Boys and Girls Club which is always a worthy organization.

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