South Beach is a saltwater beach in Del Norte County, California. Across 23 bacteria samples collected between 2021 and 2024 at nearby monitoring stations, it earns a Beach Safety Grade of D — Poor.
About 17% of samples at South Beach exceeded the EPA Beach Action Value of 235 CFU/100 mL for Escherichia coli — the threshold at which water managers typically post a swimming advisory. In practice that means the safe-swimming limit was frequently crossed here over the monitored period. Bacteria samples frequently exceed the safe-swimming threshold; swimming advisories are common here.
Read this grade as directional rather than settled: it rests on only 23 samples. That is enough to classify how the water has behaved, but not enough to separate this beach from another a grade away — a beach graded from thousands of samples at several stations is a firmer read. As more results are reported, the grade may shift.
South Beach is currently listed as inactive in the EPA beach-monitoring program, so it may no longer be routinely sampled. Its grade reflects the water-quality results collected while it was active — useful history, but confirm the beach's current status and any local advisory before you visit.