July 25th is Swimmable California Day – a day proclaimed by the California Legislature to recognize every Californians’ right to waterways and beaches that are clean and safe to enjoy.
We’re celebrating. But this year, we’re also calling California out.
Because the truth is, not every Californian enjoys the same right to know whether the water they’re swimming in is safe. And on a day dedicated to swimmable water for all, that gap cannot be ignored.
Coastal Californians Are Protected
Nearly three decades ago, California made a commitment to ocean beach swimmers. AB 411, enacted in 1997, established mandatory weekly bacterial testing at public beaches, required posted warnings when water is unsafe, and gave county health officers the authority to close beaches when standards are exceeded. Today, the state monitors nearly 300 beaches along more than 500 miles of coastline. When the water fails, a sign goes up and the public is notified.
For almost 30 years, that program has worked. Coastal Californians swim with a basic assurance that their water is safe to swim.
Inland Californians Are Not Protected
California has hundreds of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and swimming holes used for water-contact recreation across the state. On a hot July afternoon, you can find families cooling off at the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, farmworkers wading into the Russian River after a harvest shift in Sonoma, kids splashing in the Garden of Eden on the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz, and hikers soaking in Deep Creek Hot Springs in the San Bernardino mountains.
None of those sites are systematically monitored. None are subject to mandatory public notification when the water is unsafe. If E. coli levels spike after a rainstorm, no sign goes up. No text goes out. No agency is legally required to tell anyone.
This gap in protection falls hardest on the communities who have the least access to the coast that AB 411 protects:
- Lower-income households who can’t easily get to a coastal beach.
- Communities of color who represent a large share of users at many of our priority inland sites.
- Agricultural and seasonal workers for whom a river is the primary relief from triple-digit harvest-season heat.
- Children who ingest more water per body weight and face greater risk from bacterial and algal toxin exposure.
- Unhoused Californians who use these rivers for recreation and hygiene.
California has built a world-class outdoor access program – but it serves coastal communities far better than inland ones. The Coastal Commission protects beach access for communities along the Pacific. Inland, disadvantaged communities are largely on their own, swimming in waters that no one is required to test, and no one is required to warn them about.
That is an environmental justice failure. And Swimmable California Day is the right day to name it.
What We Need
California Coastkeeper Alliance is finalizing a report to the State Water Resources Control Board completing the mandate of AB 1066 – a 2021 law that directed the state to study this problem and recommend a fix. We inventoried more than 250 freshwater recreation sites across all 58 counties, developed a 10-criterion equity and hazard scoring framework, identified six Tier 1 priority clusters, and proposed a comprehensive three-tier monitoring and public notification program modeled directly on AB 411.
The framework exists. The sites are identified. The standards are proposed. Now California needs to implement a permanent monitoring program.
An AB 411-style monitoring program for inland freshwater sites would designate the six priority freshwater recreation site clusters, establish mandatory water quality monitoring and real-time public notification, and create mandatory closure authority for dangerous bacterial and harmful algal bloom events.
No Californian should have to guess whether it’s safe to swim. The communities cooling off in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs this weekend deserve the same protections as coastal beachgoers.
That’s what Swimmable California Day should mean for every swimmer in this state. Not just those near the coast.
Staff Attorney Marty Farrell advocates for statewide policies and programs that protect the health of California’s water.
