Source Tracking Guide Just Released!

The Maine Healthy Beaches Program has just released the Municipal Guide to Clean Water: Conducting Sanitary Surveys to Improve Coastal Water Quality

This resource is focused on finding, fixing and preventing sources of fecal bacteria contamination in low density, coastal watersheds. Elements of this guide will also be useful for freshwater beaches and urban watersheds. While this guide was design with local government and agency staff in mind, most covered topics will also be relevant for volunteer groups. Just beware that some areas – such as directions on how to inspect private residences- are not appropriate for volunteers.

In addition to covering how to identify bacteria hot spots and track sources in a watershed, this guide also includes excellent overviews of many water testing issues including: indicator bacteria, sources of pollution, source tracking methods, waste disposal systems, stormwater issues, solutions and best management practices.

Whether you are looking to investigate a local water pollution issue yourself or want to learn more about what you should be asking your local authorities to do, this guide is a great resource! Or use it as an educational tool for students or new volunteers. It has great photos of many of the steps involved in water testing.

Pictured above is Sarah Mosley, Maine Healthy Beaches Water Quality Testing trainer, and Northern New England Chapter member. Sarah, along with Keri Lindberg, are responsible for training all the volunteers that collect samples for the Maine Healthy Beaches program, including a team of NNE Chapter volunteers. More info on NNE Chapter's water testing program is available on their website.

Getting Creative in Newport, Oregon

The Youth Volunteers in Newport, Oregon did it again! They've implemented another fantastic project to complement their BWTF water testing and raise awareness in a very creative way of the impacts of stormwater pollution. Another great job! Local newspaper coverage below....

Oregon Coast Aquarium Youth Volunteers Created a Painting of a Whale Around a Storm Drain

By Cindy Hanson

Newport, OR - Oregon Coast Aquarium youth volunteers partnered with the Surfrider Foundation to create a painting of a whale around a storm drain at the Nye Beach Turnaround. The “Storm Drain Art Project” intends to raise awareness about storm water and runoff pollution. Aquarium artist Michael Cole, known for his magnificent mural work at the Aquarium, painted the whale last Saturday. The youth volunteers have been coordinating the project with Cole and the Surfrider Foundation for the past six months, proposing the project to City Council and gathering materials. The City of Newport approved the first painting, and if the City approves of the next phase of the project, there will be more storm drain paintings in the area, intended to demonstrate that what goes into the storm drain goes into our oceans.

The youth volunteer team was first inspired to complete the art after learning about a similar project done by Surfrider Foundation with the Ocean Resource Team in Port Orford (2009). The youths wanted to educate the high number of visitors that enjoy the Nye Beach area and encourage them to make choices that have a positive impact on the environment. Recognizing that storm water pollution is a problem and everyone can be part of the solution, the youth team’s project aimed to deliver that message in a more meaningful way than a storm drain marker.

“What goes in our yards, streets and around drains ends up in the ocean and eventually negatively impacts us and marine life,” said Mechell Bailey, youth volunteer team member. “We thought this was a pretty cool way of demonstrating that connection.”

Throughout the winter the youth volunteers planned out their project. They researched city codes, regulations, located multiple possible sites around town, worked with local artist Michael Cole, wrote a project proposal and presented their idea to the Newport City Council in February. With a unanimous motion from the Newport City Council, the city staff enthusiastically supported preparing the site for the painting.

This year marks the third year that the youth volunteers and Surfrider Foundation have joined forces on youth volunteer water quality team projects. Working under the guidance of the Aquarium’s Youth Program Coordinator, Tricia Ratliff, and Surfrider’s Oregon Field Manager, Charlie Plybon, the youth volunteers help develop projects to raise awareness of the Blue Water Task Force Program. This citizen-based water quality monitoring program has been a partnership between the two organizations over the past seven years, giving volunteers hands-on experience sampling and testing water quality of local beaches. The past three years, the groups have worked jointly with a youth volunteer water quality team each winter, connecting the water quality program to a youth awareness project within the community.

“The youth volunteer team projects are an opportunity to develop leadership, project development, planning, and communication skills,” said Tricia Ratliff, Aquarium youth program coordinator. “More than anything the youth learn that community projects take careful planning, multiple strategies, and follow through. They start a project from conception and follow it through to completion and later present their projects to the general public.”

“My hope is that this project will help educate and make people aware of their actions, as well as be the start of many storm drain art projects,” Said Olivia Poncé, youth volunteer team member.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational attraction dedicated to the highest quality aquatic and marine science programs for recreation and education so the public better understands, cherishes, and conserves the world’s natural marine and coastal resources. For more information, visit the Aquarium’s Web site at www.aquarium.org or call (541) 867-FISH.

Photo Caption: Olivia Ponce, Charlie Plybon, Mechell Bailey, Tricia Ratliff and Tonie Vinson stand behind a new storm drain painting, intended to raise awareness about storm water and runoff pollution, at the Nye Beach Turnaround in Newport. Courtesy Photo

To view Oregon Coast Aquarium's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-9-Oregon_Coast_Aquarium

Cycle of Insanity: Coming Soon to Theaters Near You?

On World Water Day, Monday March 22, 2010, the Surfrider Foundation will premier The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water. This new short film, narrated by actress Zuleikha Robinson from the television series Lost, dives into controversial problems and solutions related to water management and serves as a practical outline for citizens curious about water issues. Watch the trailer and other promotional material online.

From beautiful and climate-appropriate ocean friendly gardens, low impact development and safe water re-use, the video highlights comprehensive solutions for economical and environmentally sensitive water management reform. “These approaches to meeting our water demands will simultaneously achieve multiple benefits like pollution prevention, energy conservation, wildlife and habitat restoration, flood mitigation and more. The video, created by Surfrider activists, presents a truly holistic integrated vision of water management meant to provoke debate and reform,” according to Joe Geever, Surfrider Foundation’s California Policy Coordinator.

“With the communities of San Diego County under Stage 2 mandatory water restrictions, this film comes at an important time,” said Belinda Smith, Co-Chair, Know Your h2o. “This film was made by volunteers from the chapters. We really want people to understand that by following the solutions offered, we offer water managers, and communities the unique opportunity to rethink and fix our outdated water management system.”

The basis for the Surfrider Foundation’s Know Your H2O program, the film will be a centerpiece in Surfrider Foundation’s campaign to bring holistic solutions to water management. Learn more about the Know Your H2O program and view the Cycle of Insanity movie online (after March 16th).

Newport Beach Teach & Test Program

The Newport Beach Teach & Test Program is now operating in eight local high schools and reaches 850 students! Congratulations to the chapter for developing and nurturing a very successful education program that is obviously fulfilling a local need. The below program description is posted on the Newport Beach Chapter website.

The Newport Beach Teach & Test Program is a fully-funded educational water quality testing program. The Surfrider Chapter provides all the equipment, training and materials for local high school students to collect, test and report on water quality in their area. Originally conceived as an 8-10 week program,the Newport Beach program has evolved into a flexible program that is easily incorporated into a module of Environmental, Marine or Global Science as well as Chemistry or Biology. Testing may be done on either fresh or salt water. Student activities include gathering water samples, sample preparation, incubation and interpretation of the results. Multiple tests over time allow the students to document changes in water quality as conditions change. Program participants are encouraged post their test results on the Surfrider website. The program was founded in 1994 and currently includes Valencia, Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Esperanza, Mater Dei, Costa Mesa, Orange, and Northwood High Schools. We plan to expand Teach & Test to many more high schools in our watershed as the budget allows. Please contact us to see if Teach & Test can be of value to your school. Contact Doug Peterson if you are interested in sponsoring one of our schools.

Santa Monica Teach & Test Mentorship Program

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

Teach and Test Mentorship Program

Pictured above: Member of the Teach and Teach and Test program Jacob Hasset takes water quality samples with students from Lincoln Middle School and SMASH by the Santa Monica Pier

Yesterday members of the Teach and Test Program at Santa Monica High School taught students from Lincoln Middle School and SMASH all about water quality testing and the importance of keeping our oceans clean. We took the students down to the beach where they each took a sample of the water and filled out a data sheet. Then they each were given the opportunity to process their sample in the laboratory and put their finished sample in the incubator. We tested their knowledge of what they learned with a game of Teach and Test Jeopardy! It was wonderful experience inspiring the youth to make a positive change in the world.


Pictured above: Members of the Teach and Test program Kou Collins and Daniel Franco teach a student from Lincoln Middle School how to process their sample in the lab.

More pictures from this field trip are posted here and unfortunately include many shots of plastic and other trash strewn across the beach. Hopefully while the Santa Monica students were helping to motivate a global movement of care for the coast, everyone was also inspired to Rise Above Plastics.

Santa Monica High School Teach & Test Video

The Santa Monica High School students participating in the W. LA/ Malibu Chapter's Teach and Test program were just featured in an online video produced by the Green Observers Foundation. This video showcases their water testing program. The students do a great job of taking the viewer through collecting water at the beach, processing samples in the lab, and reading their results. They also discuss some of their local pollution issues and how residents can make a difference.

This video is a must see for any BWTF programs that are based in schools or to show new volunteers. It can be viewed online at http://www.greenobservers.org/urban-runoff.html

These students are also maintaining a blog to share information about their program, campaigns and local events.

Good job Santa Monica! Thank you Green Observers Foundation for producing this fantastic new resource.

Ogden Dunes' Beach Water Quality Monitoring Program

http://www.bestlightproductions.com/od_environ_video.htm

Ogden Dunes is a town in NW Indiana with beachfront on Lake Michigan. The video linked above describes their beach water quality monitoring program, including how samples are collected and processed, what is done with the data and how decisions are made to either open or close their beaches for swimming. While this beach program is testing fresh water from a Great Lakes Beach, this video is completely applicable to all ocean beaches in the US as well. The sampling, analysis & decision making are all the same. There is just a different bacteria standard that is tested, Enterococcus for marine waters, rather than E. Coli in fresh water.

I highly recommend anyone interested in the science behind beach closures and swimming advisories to check out this video. It is brief and very informative.

South Bay Chapter hosts Teach and Test program year-end party and presentations

On May 17th at SEA Lab in Redondo Beach, 30 students from four South Bay high schools participating in the Surfrider Foundation’s Teach and Test Program presented their results that reflect seven months of water quality testing at 13 local beaches. As part of the program, students from Westchester, El Segundo, Redondo and Torrance High, South, collected water samples every other Sunday and analyzed bacteria levels. The SEA Lab presentation and awards ceremony marked the end of the Teach and Test period for 2008-2009.

“Besides Styrofoam, we found a lot of food wrappers in the water,” said Michelle Pena, President of the Redondo Union High School Ecology Club. “These findings show that people are just lazy.”

In addition to trash on the beach, students studied the effects the Ballona Wetlands have on bacterial count reduction. The presentation included a slide show explaining the mechanisms within the wetland that attributed to the degradation of bacteria, which allowed a larger amount of clean water to enter the ocean.

One group of students presented their Teach and Test results in a public forum and interviewed local citizens about the beaches in their neighborhood. They offered solutions to water quality problems such as turning off automatic sprinklers to reduce excess run-off, disposing of cigarettes properly and using natural fertilizers.

Entering its fifth year, the Teach and Test program’s primary goal is to foster future environmental stewardship among students, create community awareness about local water quality, and provide realistic solutions to improve conditions. Surfrider Foundation South Bay Chapter volunteers mentor the students and the beach and provide guidance as they collect water samples. Back in the labs, local high school teachers guide the students through the analysis process. Since the inception of the Teach and Test program, six students have been accepted to science programs at their chosen universities and two current students won LA Science Fair awards. The majority of students will return next year, and are excited to participate with their fellow students and Surfrider volunteers.

New EPA Educational Stormwater Video

Reduce Runoff: Slow it down, Spread it out, Soak it in

This new 9-minute video, “Reduce Runoff: Slow It
Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In,” highlights green techniques
such as rain gardens, green roofs, and rain barrels that help
manage stormwater runoff in a more sustainable manner. The
film, produced in partnership with the U.S. Botanic Garden,
showcases green techniques that are being used in urban areas
to minimize the impacts of stormwater runoff on the quality of
downstream receiving waters.

The goal is to mimic the natural way water moves through
an area before development by using design techniques that
infiltrate, evaporate, and reuse runoff close to its source. The
green techniques, including rain gardens, green roofs, rain
barrels and cisterns, are very effective at reducing the volume
of stormwater runoff and capturing harmful pollutants. These
green practices increasingly are being used by communities
across the country to help protect and restore water quality.
Using vegetated areas that capture runoff also improves air
quality, mitigates the effects of urban heat islands, and reduces
a community’s overall carbon footprint.

The video includes green techniques on display in 2008
at the U.S. Botanic Garden’s “One Planet – Ours!” Exhibit. It
also highlights green techniques at U.S. EPA’s Headquarters
in Washington, D.C. including recently completed cisterns. Six
1,000-gallon cisterns installed in the basement at EPA’s West
Building now collect roof runoff from the building. This cistern
water irrigates planting beds and grass in front of EPA’s West
Building along Constitution Avenue, thereby conserving water
and reducing runoff to the Chesapeake Bay.

The video is available online at: www.epa.gov/nps/lid. Also, see
www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/stormwater_hq/ for more
information on Stormwater Management at EPA Headquarters.