Paradise Cove gets A+ for summer and wet-weather water quality

Picnickers and pickup soccer players fill the lawn at Paradise Beach Park on July 4, 2024. Paradise Cove again earned an A-plus for water quality in both the summer and wet-weather seasons, one of only three Marin beaches to do so. (Ted McDonnell archive / For The Ark 2024)

Paradise Cove has again earned an A-plus grade for water quality from a pollution-tracking watchdog, even as Marin’s countywide grades slipped below their usual marks.

The county’s assessment, released by the Environmental Health Services Division on July 15, draws on the 36th annual Beach Report Card from Heal the Bay, an environmental nonprofit that grades pollution levels at more than 650 beaches from Tijuana to Washington using data collected by local agencies.

Some 78% of Marin beaches received A’s or B’s during the summer dry-weather season, the county said, including Paradise Cove, home to Paradise Beach Park in unincorporated Tiburon. Paradise Cove was one of four Marin beaches to earn an A-plus summer grade, along with Horseshoe Cove in Fort Baker, Dillon Beach and central Muir Beach. It was one of just three — with Horseshoe Cove and Dillon Beach — to earn A-plus marks in both summer and wet weather.

The 78% share fell well short of the five-year average of 97% for beaches earning A’s or B’s, a drop county officials called unusual “since lower rainfall is typically associated with better water quality.” The county said the trend warrants further investigation.

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