A rock revetment under construction on Ocean Beach in September 2010. Photo: Tom Prete / Ocean Beach Bulletin

San Francisco public radio station KALW has joined the ranks of media outlets reporting on Ocean Beach erosion issues and measures to respond to the threat, with a new report.

Regular readers will recognize in KALW’s report the issues the Ocean Beach Bulletin has been covering for the past 18 months, from the effects of erosion to past attempts to address it to possible long-term solutions such as the Ocean Beach Master Plan. But KALW’s radio report likely will reach people who might not have been aware of the problems confronting the southern end of Ocean Beach and their potential impact on the city.

One segment of the KALW report touched on the tension between the city’s desire to protect the taxpayer-funded, $220 million Oceanside water-treatment plant — part of a system that has dramatically reduced the number of sewage spills off Ocean Beach — and environmental issues with the use of boulders and other hard protection measures. Among other effects, rock walls can make erosion worse in some ways and block safe public access to the beach.

 Mark Massara, a surfer and long-time resident of Ocean Beach, is fed up. “They continue to dump this hazardous debris at the beach and our frustration is at the boiling point,” says Massara. Massara is also an attorney with the California Coastal Protection Network, an environmental group that is suing the city over the rock wall. He says the wall was built as a temporary fix, but has cluttered the beach for more than a decade.

In addition to KALW, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have reported on Ocean Beach erosion in recent months.

Listen to the audio of the KALW radio report on Ocean Beach: KALW audio about Ocean Beach

 Read a transcript of the report on KALW’s website.