Santa Monica Students Report Pollution after Heavy Rains

Source: Santa Monica Daily Press

Students find high levels of bacteria in bay

January 28, 2010

SM BAY — Students at Santa Monica High School were shocked to see extremely high levels of bacteria present in the waters here following last week’s heavy rains.

The students, enrolled in the Surfrider Teach & Test program monitoring water quality in the Santa Monica Bay, found bacteria levels weighing in at more than double what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers safe, warning surfers and swimmers to make sure they stay out of the water for at least 72 hours after it rains.

The rains send urban pollutants and fecal bacteria into storm drains and onto local beaches, raising the risk for contracting a serious infection, said Lindsey Jurca, educational chair for the Surfrider Foundation’s Malibu and Santa Monica chapters.

“High bacteria levels are expected when it rains because everything from the streets floods the ocean, but the kids and the public are generally not aware of how high the level of bacteria can be,” Jurca said. “When they do find out, some are pretty shocked.”

Bacteria levels at the Santa Monica Pier were 223, which is 119 organisms per milliliter higher than the EPA safety threshold of 104, according to Surfrider. The Pico-Kenter storm drain at the end of Pico Boulevard had bacteria levels that averaged at 120, and Ocean Park sampled at 331.

Samohi students also tested water quality at the storm drain underneath the pier, which City Hall replaced last year due to leaks that were causing poor water quality grades. Bacteria levels in the storm drain runoff were 7,915 — more than 75 times higher than what the EPA considers safe.

Students specifically tested for the presence of enterococcus bacteria, a fecal bacteria whose presence indicates that other disease-causing bacteria and viruses might also be present, which can lead to respiratory illness; stomach flu; and ear, nose, throat and eye infections.

“Fecal bacteria is just one of the many harmful things urban runoff carriers, which can include trash, cigarette butts, pathogens and even heavy metals,” said student Katie Rowbotham.

While testing is needed, students plan to step up their efforts to protect the public by participating in a new warning system at local surf shops. Jurca said students plan to provide surf shops with weekly updates to water quality reports so that surfers, who often can’t resist the high tides that come with rain storms, be more prepared. The reports should be posted in a month, Jurca said.

The Teach & Test program at Samohi is funded through Surfrider and a grant from the California Coastal Commission. The goal is to raise awareness about the importance of keeping dangerous urban runoff from reaching the bay. Students are also encouraged to consider careers in science.

Astoria BWTF Seeking Answers

Surfrider and the students at Astoria High in Oregon are not keeping their data to themselves, but continue to press local authorities to investigate polluted water coming out of the Ecola Court Outfall at Cannon Beach. Perhaps the below story that ran in their local paper will help generate the political will to find a solution to this water quality problem.

Update! - within 24 hours of this article running in the local paper, Surfrider has received a call from the mayor, city manager, and two council members. This issue is back on the city council agenda now! Great job getting the word out there and pushing your politicians to do their job!

Bacteria remains at Ecola outflow
Surfrider Foundation says counts are high enough in storm water to trigger a state health advisory

By NANCY MCCARTHY
The Daily Astorian

Wednesday, January 20, 2010


CANNON BEACH - Bacteria levels at the Ecola Court Outfall in Cannon Beach have remained high in tests conducted during the past three months.

Two state water quality tests in November, as well as tests in December and January performed for the Surfrider Foundation, indicated the bacteria count in the storm water outfall was high enough to trigger a state health advisory.

The state Human Services Division issues a health advisory when water samples contain more than 158 organisms per 100 milliliters. Tests performed by the Oregon Beach Monitoring Program for the state on Nov. 16 showed there were 1,935 organisms in the stream that leads from the Ecola outfall pipe into the ocean.

Another state test Nov. 19 indicated there were 197 organisms.

On Dec. 20, tests performed by Astoria High School students for a lab monitored by the Surfrider Foundation showed the count at 171, and a test Jan. 4 indicated 432 organisms.

Although high counts of organisms can be blamed on runoff of street pollutants accumulated during the dry season, the readings continued to be high even after heavy rains had already washed the streets, said Charlie Plybon, Oregon field coordinator for Surfrider Foundation.

Surfrider Foundation is a nonprofit organization that monitors Oregon's water quality along the coast.

Between March and September last year, when Cannon Beach sees the most visitors, 10 out of 20 water quality tests failed to meet state standards. Between Oct. 12 and Nov. 2, bacteria counts met state limits, ranging between 10 and 108 organisms per 100 milliliters.

Although the tests are for storm water and not drinking water, they concern members of the Surfrider Foundation because the outfall is a popular play area for children during the summer.

In addition, those accessing the beach from Gower Street in Midtown must cross the stream if they want to walk to Haystack Rock.

Surfrider has asked the city to share data it has collected and to establish a committee specifically to look at the problem. The City Council has asked the city's public works committee to work on it, said Mark See, public works director. The committee is beginning to educate itself about the problem, he said.

Meanwhile, Plybon said, "We're getting a little frustrated with the city."

The city hasn't shared the DNA results collected from samples of animals and birds found in the area and from DNA found in the outfall storm water over a year ago.

The organization is also concerned that the only information given to the public about the periodic contamination is a sign over the tide gate that says the water is untreated. Plybon said he would like to see a sign that gives clearer warnings.

"Some people feel we should take a harder line with the city," Plybon said. "But we need a common strategy. I think the will of the city to do something is there. I don't know if the resources are there.

"We need the city to tell us what they need, and we can provide the experts," he added. If Surfrider doesn't see improved bacteria counts, the organization probably wouldn't seek legal action against the city, Plybon said. But it could ask the state to require Cannon Beach to have a storm water discharge permit. Because the city has a population of less than 4,000, it isn't legally required to apply for a state permit, but Plybon believes a case could be made for the permit if a health threat exists.

A permit would require the city to reduce the contaminants or face a fine every time they exceed the limit, Plybon said.

"I would rather use collaboration to get there, but that's the stick we could use."

But, See said, "dozens of factors" affect the outflow, which begins as an underground stream in the hills behind Cannon Beach and runs through Midtown before it flows out of the pipe behind a parking lot and onto the beach.

The city already conducts education programs that teach property owners how to discard animal and other wastes from their yards. Plastic bags also are provided at stations along the beach for dog waste.

"There never have been any definitive answers," about how pollutants are entering the outflow stream, See said. "Every fresh water source has this potential."

Tests only describe what was in the water "yesterday," but no one knows what is in the water "today," he added.

"We need technology to provide 'real-time' data, and that could happen not far into the future. They're working on something," See said.

It wouldn't be practical to eliminate the outflow because it prevents sand from building up and blocking the beach access and overflowing the parking lots of surrounding restaurants and hotels. "We could spend tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars fixing it," See said. "Because it's a complicated formula, there's not a simple answer."

Because the city doesn't have a combined storm and sewer system, there is little chance that storm drains would have been inadvertently connected to the sewer drains, See said. However, he admitted, that has happened a few times.

"We watch for that all the time; we have an extensive mapping system" showing the drainage systems.

Eventually, though, if the bacteria counts remain high, the city may have to do some "smoke" testing that will determine if local buildings are correctly connected to the sewer system.

"To satisfy some people, we may have to spend some money and do something," See said.

Getting to the Source in Kaua'i

Getting to the Source

Water quality experts question origin of chronic bacteria

By Coco Zickos - The Garden Island

Published: Monday, January 18, 2010 3:09 AM HST

• Editor’s note: This is the seventh article in an ongoing series which examines Kaua‘i water quality.

LIHU‘E — Chronically elevated levels of bacteria in water found in various locations around the island merit “frequent sampling and wastewater assessment,” Surfrider Foundation’s Dr. Carl Berg said.

During 2009, Surfrider volunteers collected water from 20 different stations across Kaua‘i and processed a total of 166 samples testing for bacterial counts.

“Most areas sampled were clean,” Berg said.

However, 10 stations exceeded what are deemed to be the state’s safe levels of enterococcus — a bacteria commonly found in the feces of humans and animals — at least once, Berg said.

Nawiliwili Stream, which feeds into Kalapaki Bay and as such is commonly known as Kalapaki Stream, tested high for each of the 12 samples taken throughout the year. Pakalas, on the Westside, exceeded safe levels for four of the 12 samplings. Waters off of Lydgate Park, on the Eastside, tested high four out of 10 times.

The averages for these sites suggest that Pakalas and Kalapaki Stream “are chronically polluted with human and/or animal wastes and deserve more frequent sampling and a wastewater assessment,” Berg said. “Waters off Lydgate are of concern because the Wailua waste water treatment plant discharges into the ocean in that area and the Wailua river flows to that area at times.”

Rainfall largely accounts for when “exceedances” most frequently occur. But linking the source to sites with continuously high counts of bacteria will require additional testing which goes beyond Surfrider’s “preliminary sampling,” Berg said.

“The next step is to have the Department of Health confirm and investigate possible sources,” he said Sunday.

The DOH currently samples some sites around the island twice a week, but only focuses on places that have “a lot of people with high recreational use,” DOH spokesperson Janice Okubo said.

When asked if the DOH attempts to discover the source of bacteria when it is found, Okubo said, “We try to.”

“Bacteria can be caused by many things, some natural,” she added.

Watson Okubo, monitoring and analysis section chief of the Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch, agreed.

“Inherently all streams in Hawai‘i have high bacterial counts. That’s the nature of streams,” he said when asked why samples collected by the DOH at Kalapaki are regularly taken in the middle of the bay rather than at the mouth of the stream.

“Taking samples at streams puts you in a position where you don’t know what you’re looking at,” he said last week. “We don’t take samples at the stream mouth, but away where people recreate.”

Sam Noble, owner of Lox Hawai‘i, has designed some 150 septic systems on Kaua‘i and said cesspools are still a “big part of Hawai‘i, especially this island.”

“Cesspools, which are also called ‘drywells,’ are underground holes used throughout Hawai‘i for the disposal of human waste,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site. “Raw, untreated sewage is discharged directly into the ground, where it can contaminate oceans, streams and ground water by releasing disease-causing pathogens and nitrates.”

All large-capacity cesspools (those which serve more than 20 individuals) had to be “closed and replaced with an alternative wastewater system by April 5, 2005,” according to EPA regulations.

“Cesspools are more widely used in Hawai‘i than in any other state in the country,” the Web site says.

Noble said it is difficult to see what is going into the ground water except on “days it’s flooding.”

“There’s no doubt” cesspools are contributing to chronic levels of bacteria in the water, especially when it rains, he said.

Noble has been attempting to assist individuals in upgrading their systems, as it is important to “get people to realize they have to upgrade” and “it’s a possibility residents” might soon be required to.

Though it may not seem like a financially feasible time to upgrade, it is actually an ideal time to install because “contractors don’t have as much work.”

“Guys are hungry,” so fees will likely be lower than usual, Noble said.

“It’s good for people to do this, but it’s an economic hardship,” he said.

Moving forward in 2010, Watson Okubo said the DOH will be issuing requests for proposals this year to address pollution run-off issues.

The EPA’s Clean Water Act Section 319 will likely provide funding for some “state and local nonpoint source efforts,” such as the Nawiliwili Watershed based plan, he said.

And though the Kaua‘i District DOH recently lost 10 employees, the Clean Water Branch has not yet been affected.

“We can’t allow budget cutbacks to stop the critical health and safety work that needs to be done,” county Department of Parks and Recreation Director Lenny Rapozo said. “We’ll continue working closely with the DOH as we have done in the past to take action on any findings in our beach parks.”

• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.

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Submit your 30 or 60 second video between December 16th and February 16th 2010.

Contest details available on EPA's website.

BWTF, More Than Just Water Tests

In addition to providing valuable water quality information, the Newport Aquarium Youth Volunteers who perform the lab work for the Newort Chapter's water testing program are also committed to improving their local beach conditions. Each year, this youth group takes on a related project and/or water quality campaign. Last year they promoted Ocean Friendly Gardens on the Aquarium grounds. More here.

The Youth Volunteers have recently completed their planning session for this year's water testing BWTF program. I encourage any water testing program to go through a similar exercise to see how your volunteers can contribute to improving your favorite beaches.

From the Surfrider Oregon Blog.

A Strategy for Success

At Surfrider, we realize all of our projects, programs and campaigns come together with carefully thought out strategic plans. Being successful in our efforts relies on this type of planning and today, I had the pleasure of working with the youth volunteers at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in such a process. This year marks our third annual Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation/Aquarium Youth Volunteer winter water quality project. We spent the better part of 2 hours today mapping out the strategies and tactics surrounding the kids' project goals and objectives. Nothing satisfies me more than seeing these kids succeed and using the necessary planning tools to get themselves there. Self-motivated - check, plan in place - check, victory influencing city council - check back again this spring! And just what are these kids up to you might ask. Click here for a hint from a similar project in Port Orford.

Newport Chapter Continuing to Push for Clean Water

The Newport Chapter has been using their water testing program very successfully to continue to keep awareness of pollution issues in their watershed elevated in their city. While improvements have been seen at their local beach, some problems still persist and Surfrider keeps asking for the City and her residents to do more to solve these issues. Two postings below taken from the Surfrider Oregon Blog.

Not Again Newport...we have come so far!

After nearly 2 years of sourcing out sewer misconnections, improving stormwater codes/best management practices, improving notification/postings and cutting down the beach advisories, we're back to a challenging point with sewer overflows at Nye Beach. It seems large volumes of stormwater have been infiltrating the sewer lines (those same lines we thought were inspected and had some pipe-bursting/relining done), resulting in some serious sewage overflows at Nye Beach. The local Blue Water Task Force has been getting readings off the chart, some of the highest we've seen at Nye Beach in our 10 years of testing. What can you do? Demand clean water, join us at the next council meeting (November 23). Note the picture at right and the nebulous "contaminated with...". We can do better!

Sewage at Nye Beach, Where do I come in?

The What

Over the course of the past 3 years, the Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation has been working with the City of Newport to improve the Nye beach stormwater and sewer issues that have resulted in high bacteria counts at Nye Beach. While the sewage issues still occur (although less frequent...insert happy face), on occassions of intense rain, these issues may be linked to several problems as close as your backyard. And to that extent, the City of Newport issued some sixty letters to homeowners in the City of Newport to make some improvements for improper connections. Now let's break these issues down a little:

The Why

Bottom line, too much rain in the sewer. You see, these sewer overflows occur because the Nye Beach pump station can only take so much sewage at one time. While the pump station is well equipped to handle our sewer demands and multiple upgrades have occurred over the past few years, it can't handle excessive volumes of rainwater that enter the system. Now wait a second you may say, I thought we had separate systems for rain runoff (stormwater) and sewer lines! And yes, you are correct. The problem is there are places where rainwater can get into the sewer lines...some of them may be at yourhouse. That's right, some of the homes here in Newport have their downspouts from their homes connected to the sewer lines sending high volumes of rain to the system. Of course there are other places like manhole covers for sewer lines and old joints where saturated ground water can make it's way into the sewer system.

The You

The Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation is working with the City of Newport on strategies for improving infrastructure and sourcing other non-point sources (which will cover in a future post...as this also involves you). To date the City has been doing extensive source water quality testing up the urban watershed and smoke testing for proper sewer line connections. These tests have found sewer lines connected to storm drain lines sending untreated sewage directly to the beach through the stormwater outfall. They've found homes where small animals being raised are polluting Nye creek with there feces. They've found excessive dump spots for animal and human feces (literally bucket fulls!). And, they've found many homes with improper downspout connections to sewer lines sending rainwater into the sewer system. So, here's where you fit in, from simple to complex:





A) Engage with the Newport Chapter - come to a meeting, help with water quality monitoring...lots of opportunity, figure out what's right for you

B) Check your downspouts - make sure they are properly connected to the stormdrain (not the sewer line!) or if feasible, look into a rain barrel or downspout disconnection and rain garden - click here to learn a little more

C) Clean up! - Be sure and properly dispose of your pet waste...every little bit counts and can add up quickly in an urban watershed.

Channelkeeper filling in gaps left by government beach testing

Photo by Paul Wellman

The Ventura County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation partners with the Santa Barbara Channelkeeper on a watershed water quality monitoring program.

Channelkeeper has also stepped up to the plate to provide much needed information on water quality during what the State considers to be the off-season. The County provides some funding to Channelkeeper to keep the testing going through the winter months, when there are at least as many surfers in the water as in the summer months, but this NGO implements this program with far less resources than they government is used to spending. Local media coverage below.

Poop Patrol

County Finances Nonprofit’s Water Monitoring

By Ethan Stewart

Santa Barbara Independent

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Ever since the state budget train wreck forced the county to pull the plug on its winter beach water testing program two summers ago, nonprofit organization Santa Barbara Channelkeeper has been picking up the slack. Providing a massive public service to the thousands of surfers and swimmers who play in the Pacific Ocean during the months of November through March, Channelkeeper has been conducting weekly water testing at a dozen area beaches and has been the lone source of bacteria level updates. However, in recent months, the Channelkeeper program also found itself in jeopardy of becoming a casualty of economic strife — that is, until this week. Thanks to a 4-0 vote by the county supervisors on Tuesday (4th District’s Joni Gray was absent), the county will once again be providing the cash for winter quality tests, though Channelkeeper will continue to do the heavy lifting by carrying out the tests and informing the public. “Plain and simple, this is a public health issue” opined the 5th District’s Joe Centeno before the vote was cast. “I think we would be remiss if we did not do this.”

While the State of California mandates that the county test its beaches during the summer months of April through October, it doesn’t require anything to happen for the rest of the year, despite the fact that the wet winter months are more likely to create water quality issues due to storm water runoff. As a result, in the summer of 2008, after the state cut funding for winter testing programs, the county decided to pull the plug on its monitoring program. Knowing that the winter months are a time of year that many local beachgoers — especially surfers — live for, Channelkeeper, in conjunction with the City of Santa Barbara Creeks Division, stepped in and started the once-weekly tests for indicator bacteria like E-coli coliform and Enterococcus.

From Refugio State Beach to Rincon Point, Channelkeeper staff and interns tested 12 beaches every Monday (with the city handling testing duties at East Beach, Leadbetter, and Arroyo Burro) and provided their findings to the public free of charge via local news media and their Web site (www.sbck.org) on Tuesday evenings. Further, if a beach was tagged with a “warning” — based on California State Water Board thresholds — Channelkeeper would return to the site on Thursdays for a second test and post the follow-up results before the weekend. Last week, despite only having enough cash to carry out the testing for about two months, the organization’s testers picked up where they left off last March and released their first results of the new rainy season on November 3.

According to county staff, it cost the county some $52,000 annually to run the winter months program, but Channelkeeper needs only $15,000 to carry out essentially the exact same service.

Now, thanks to the proposal made by 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal this week, funding won’t be an issue for the testing program for the rest of this winter and, hopefully, for years to come. According to county staff, it cost the county some $52,000 annually to run the winter months program, but Channelkeeper needs only $15,000 to carry out essentially the exact same service. Speaking about the decision to provide Channelkeepr with the money necessary to keep the program going (the funds will come from tobacco-taxes), 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf said, “This is one of those minimal amounts [that we spend] that have a significant impact for our residents.”

While Channelkeeper will continue to inform the public of its findings via prior methods, the group will also be physically posting the weekly results at the Arroyo Burro Water Resource Center and the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf. The County Health Department, citing a lack of funding, a lack of mandate, and the fact that the Channelkeeper’s lab is not state certified, will not be posting its tell-tale, bright orange “Warning/Aviso” signs at area beaches based on the nonprofit’s test results. A staple of the days when the county was implementing the program, the signs — which would be hung in parking lots and on the end of stakes stuck in the sand of offending beaches —  will not be present this winter, even if a beach is identified as having dangerous levels of bacteria.