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.

Newport Aquarium Youth Volunteers: BWTF & Ocean Friendly Gardens

The water samples for the Newport Chapter’s BWTF program are analyzed at the Newport Aquarium by a group of Youth Volunteers. This is a symbiotic partnership that works well for both groups. In the past the youth volunteers have been pretty instrumental in getting the City of Newport to pay attention to the requests that the Chapter had been making, including tracking the source of pollution in the Nye Creek Watershed and recommendations for BMPs to address non-point sources.

This year the Youth Volunteers have continued to run the BWTF lab, and have also taken on a project to implement another Surfrider program, Ocean Friendly Gardens, at the Aquarium. It is great to see this group move beyond basic water testing and work on ways to improve water quality in their community.

With a little guidance from Oregon’s Field Coordinator, Charlie Plybon, the kids set out in October ‘08, met once a month, and produced the following goals:

1) Assess the Aquarium grounds for ocean friendly techniques
2) Educate the Aquarium visitors on ocean friendly garden and landscape techniques
3) Educate outside the Aquarium audience through online social networking
4) Maintain BWTF lab analysis

Here’s what they achieved during the seven-month project:

1) Worked with groundskeepers and landscape staff at the Aquarium to identify and improve upon ocean friendly techniques. Researched Surfrider Ocean Friendly Garden techniques and other LID approaches and best practices for water quality.
2) Created signage on the aquarium grounds to spotlight OFG techniques (see above). They put together 3 signs throughout the Aquarium grounds.
3) Developed an OFG poster and display with Surfrider OFG brochures.
4) Developed a powerpoint presentation to deliver to Aquarium visitors on their project and OFG techniques.
3) Developed a video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxCsEtcjGzY   
4) Continued water quality lab work throughout the winter for the local BWTF. Ran over 100 samples for local beaches and Nye watershed.
5) Gave a final public presentation.

Santa Monica High School Year End Event: Presenting Water Quality Data

The West Los Angeles/ Malibu Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has teamed up with students from Santa Monica High School to raise awareness about water quality in the Santa Monica Bay. The students will hold a free “Teach & Test” event on June 11 to share the results of their yearlong study of the bay and discuss ways to clean up California’s beaches and shorelines.

The Teach & Test Program was established through grants from the West LA/Malibu chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and a number of public and private sponsors, including Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots organization. Aimed at inspiring change in the community and encouraging environmental awareness through hands-on laboratory experience, the program invited Santa Monica High School students to participate in a yearlong research project to study ocean water quality. The students collected water samples in the bay three times a day in order to measure the effect of urban runoff and pollution on water quality. Now at the end of their experiment, students will share their findings with peers and the public through presentations, special events and through global nonprofit networks like the Surfrider Foundation.

One of the most important aspects of any scientific study is communicating your results. Congrats to the West Los Angeles/ Malibu Chapter and the students at Santa Monica High School for hosting this community event.

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.

Surfrider Santa Monica High School Teach & Test

The West Los Angeles/Malibu Surfrider Chapter has brought the Blue Water Task Force to Santa Monica High School. The Chapter, in partnership with Santa Monica High School, was awarded a Whale Tale Grant from the California Coastal Commission to fund the Surfrider Santa Monica High School Teach & Test program, providing students with the opportunity to get hands on science experience while raising awareness of about water quality in their community.

“With this grant, we will be able to provide the students with the technology needed to make this a truly scientific inquiry,” states Benjamin Kay, Marine Biology Teacher and advisor for the Teach & Test program.

“We now have the tools to turn a community-based program into a full-blown educational program whose messages will reach beyond Santa Monica to all of Los Angeles” notes Lindsey Jurca, who oversees the Teach & Test program as Surfrider WLAM’s educational chair.

Learn more about the Surfrider Santa Monica High School Teach & Test program on the Chapter's website.

The high school students have also made the front page of their local newspaper, The Santa Monica Daily Press

Samohi students become young marine biologists

by Melody Hanatani

May 02, 2009

SAMOHI — Every Wednesday morning while his peers are still rolling out of bed and rubbing the crust from their eyes, Raphael Mawrence is at the beach, not hitting the waves, but rather learning about the marine environment.

The 11th grader is among more than a dozen Santa Monica High School students who for the past seven weeks have been collecting and analyzing water samples from the Santa Monica Bay, monitoring bacteria levels and trying to understand the factors that make the local beach one of the most polluted in the state.

The group of approximately 15 teenagers are part of the Surfrider Foundation’s Teach & Test Program, which aims to educate students about urban runoff and other environmental issues, giving them the tools necessary to make a positive impact in the community.

“I get to see what I’m swimming in,” Mawrence said.

Local beaches continually post poor marks in Heal the Bay’s annual Beach Report Card, which grades water quality at more than 500 locations statewide. The most recent report card last May found that L.A. County is home to five of the top 10 lowest-rated beaches. The pier ranked second on the list of the “Top 10 Beach Bummers,” just behind Avalon Harbor Beach at Catalina Island.

Through funding from the Surfrider Foundation West Los Angeles/Malibu Chapter and other grants, including the California Coastal Commission’s Whale Tail Grant, the students test their samples at the new Samohi Surfrider Marine Laboratory — a classroom in the school’s science building that is stacked with roughly $9,000 worth of equipment.

“It’s mostly about empowering the kids, empowering the future generations to impact changes, getting them actively engaged in the community, giving them a voice and having them tackle real environmental issues the world is facing right now and be problem solvers,” Lindsey Jurca, the education chair for the local Surfrider chapter’s executive committee, said.

While the program has been in place in schools across the state for years, including in the South Bay, Samohi is the first participating high school on the Westside.

The students go out every week to collect samples at three locations — Tower 26, the Santa Monica Pier and the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain.

They then return to the lab where they grow bacteria in an incubator through which they are able to determine the water quality about 24 hours later, Benjamin Kay, the program adviser and marine biology teacher, said.

The participants are either enrolled in Kay’s classes or are members of several student organizations, including Team Marine and the Heal the Bay Club, both of which focus on oceanic environmental issues.

“They’re very empowered by the fact that they are doing the research from start to finish by themselves,” Kay said. “The results matter to them because they own the results and they’re doing the dirty work.”

Kay hopes to expand the program to all marine biology students at the high school, reaching about 200 teenagers.

A major component of the program involves the students educating the community about their findings through presentations to their peers and city officials and visits to local middle schools.

The results of the first few water samples have been surprising to the students.

“I noticed that the ocean is not as clean as I thought it would be,” Mawrence said.

His peer, fellow junior Valerie Wacker, has a different take on the results.

“It’s a little bit cleaner than I thought because a lot of people are always making fun of the bay and how dirty it is,” she said. “I feel comfortable swimming in the beach knowing that it’s OK.”

Wacker, who got involved with Team Marine through a friend, described the experience collecting samples and running tests as “adult like.”

“It’s interesting because we go at 7:30 in the morning onto the beach and it’s very cold but so beautiful to be taking water samples to show the public how healthy our beach is,” she said. “It’s really important to know what you’re swimming in.”

Sampling Lake Michigan

The Blue Water Task Force is now exploring the Great Lakes. The newly-founded Lake Michigan Chapter has hit the ground running, raising funds through a grant from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation and raffles to perform a water testing program in the ice-free, off-season months of Sept.- Dec. and March- May. Their water testing program is being implemented in partnership with the GVSU’s Annis Water Resource Institute (AWRI). AWRI Biologist and SFLMC member Matt Cooper is leading this ‘first of its kind" study to investigate water quality in Lake Michigan during the months when surfers are most likely to be in the water. Water quality data and more information can be found on the Lake Michigan Chapter's website.

The following Q&A with Matt discusses the highlights of the beach monitoring program.

Q - Tell us about the current water testing program, what is the overall objective?
M - We’re testing the water at the popular surf breaks on both sides of the Grand Haven channel. We’re looking for E. coli and Enterococcus because these bacteria are indicators of other pathogens that can make people sick. The Ottawa County Health Department does a great job of testing the beaches from Memorial Day to Labor Day but we tend to surf a lot more during the Spring, Fall, and Winter so we decided to take matters into our own hands and start our own testing program to make sure we aren’t surfing in contaminated water.

Q - What can you tell us that you have learned so far? (ie does temperature affect ecoli, turbulence, etc).
M - Well, so far, we can say that the water around Grand Haven has had pretty low bacteria counts, especially when the water is really cold. This has been a nice surprise since we really had no idea what we would find in the Fall, after the Health Dept. finishes their sampling for the year.

Q - Does the data collected so far confirm or deny your initial theories on water quality in GH?
M - Since the project focuses on ‘surf days,’ which also tend to be the rainy and nasty days with a lot of muddy runoff in the river, I expected to see more high bacteria counts than what we’ve found. Of course, this is good news for all of us who spend time in the water.

Q - Can we make any conclusions at this time based on the rain events last fall?
M - We’re going to continue testing while we still have funding but so far, we have no reason to think that the water is too polluted to surf. We’re blessed with a beautiful beach, a lot of Spring and Fall surf, and it appears that water quality is pretty good as well.

Q - What does the data mean?
M - To determine whether we are exposing ourselves to nasty ‘bugs’ (bacteria, viruses, etc.) associated with human waste when we’re surfing and kiteboarding at the Grand Haven and Ferrysburg breaks, we are testing for E. coli, and Enterococci. These particular bacteria are found in the digestive tracts of humans and, in fact, they generally don’t cause us any harm (it’s not the same strain of E. coli that makes us sick). However, when we find them in high numbers at the beach, it’s a pretty good indication that other nasty pathogens are present which could make us sick. We will be collecting water samples on most ‘surfable’ or ‘kiteable’ days from now until the ice sets in. We’ll pick it up again after the ice is gone in the spring. Sampling locations include the Grand Haven State Park and north of the pier on the Ferrysburg side.

The numbers that we will report are ‘Colony Forming Units’ (CFU) per 100 milliliters. You can think of this as the number of viable bacteria cells in a 100 milliliter sample. For E. coli, as long as the number stays below 300 CFU per 100 ml for a single day, there’s little cause for concern. For Enterococci, as long as the numbers stay below 104 CFU per 100 ml it’s safe to surf. Of course, these numbers are merely thresholds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established for recreational waters. This does not mean that at 275 E. coli CFU there’s no chance of getting sick or at 325 CFU you will contract every nasty ailment known to man. The number that we will report are geometric means (a type of average) of at least 3 separate samples collected in approximately 3 to 4 foot of water. We are also collecting additional data including water temperature, wave height, longshore current, weather conditions, and the number of people in the water.

This program was funded in part (roughly two-thirds) by a grant from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation and by you, the local surfers (roughly one-third). Pathogen monitoring has been contracted to the Annis Water Resources Institute of Grand Valley State University. For additional information, contact Matt Cooper (616-331-8790, coopmat@gvsu.edu).

Filling in Financial Shortfalls

Economic hardship has become a reality in communities across the country and around the world. Governments and NGOs alike are being told to do more with less, or unfortunately sometimes, just to do less. State and county health and environmental agencies are not immune to this trend. Budget restrictions are forcing them to pare down their beach water quality monitoring programs by cutting back on the number of beaches tested and the frequency of sampling. Even in California and Florida, two states where beaches drive huge, tourism-based, economic engines, beach monitoring programs have been threatened with major cuts in funding. While the Surfrider Foundation will continue to submit requests for increased federal funding of the BEACH Act so more money gets to coastal states for water testing, our chapters are already taking action to fill in the gaps left by government-run beach monitoring programs.

In Mendocino County, California, the Department of Environmental Health began water quality testing in 2004 at selected beaches frequented by recreational users. Many of these test sites, however, were mainly dive locations and were seldom used by surfers. Additionally, testing was generally conducted only during the summer when there’s little swell.

With this in mind, the Mendocino Chapter proposed additional test sites to the County, including beaches that are primarily used by surfers and beach goers, and to increase the sampling period into the winter months. Since funding is always a problem for the small county, the Chapter proposed to conduct the additional testing on a volunteer basis by Mendocino Chapter members. Thus the Mendocino Chapter Blue Water Task Force was created.

Since 2006, their stout and intrepid team (Victoria Kraus, Jackie Dooley, and Jack Coulumbe) has collected water samples for bacteria testing on a bi-weekly basis at seven locations throughout Mendocino County. In times of County funding shortfalls they have actually substituted for County employees, all on their own time.

In Oregon, the newly founded Siuslaw Chapter, in partnership with the Siuslaw Watershed Council, has launched their Blue Water Task Force program this past winter season. Chapter members collect monthly water samples in areas around Florence that aren’t currently monitored by the State Beach Monitoring program. Volunteers collect samples at the South jetty, North jetty, the Siuslaw River and, the Heceta beach drainage near Driftwood Shores. Larry Brammer designed and built the device that attaches to a fishing pole to hold the water sample bottles when collecting water from the ocean. The water samples are brought to the Siuslaw Watershed Council laboratory in Mapleton for analysis.

The Mendocino and Siuslaw Chapters’ Blue Water Task Force are a great example of volunteerism in support of the community.