A Vote to Allow City to Hasten Dirty Storm Water to the Ocean

The San Diego Planning Commission Thursday approved a proposal by the city’s Storm Water Department to clear vegetation from creeks around the city, even though the plan acknowledges that it will cause storm water that reaches the coastal waters to be even more polluted.
The impetus for this project comes from flooding that causes problems in a few areas -- for example, some areas of the Tijuana River Valley, Alvarado and Grantsville areas in the San Diego River watershed.
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The problem is that the plan identifies about 170 areas in the city for vegetation clearing and new road building in open space, including creeks where flooding has never been a problem, such as in the Gilman Canyon section of Rose Canyon. When challenged by the Friends of Rose Canyon, the city quickly removed those areas from the plan, causing me to wonder. If the city admits that these specific areas are not necessary for the plan, how were all of the sites selected?
Strangely, the plan does not include any hydrologic models that would allow us to predict what the effect of vegetation removal from our creeks will be, whether vegetation removal will solve property loss from flooding, or even whether it will cause worse flooding problems downstream. But, we can be sure that removing vegetation will decrease water quality because wetland plants and soil microbes have been demonstrated to clean urban pollutants out of storm water. Instead, the city will continue to use a method that has fallen into disfavor in the last century because of environmental degradation that it causes.
Other cities approach storm water management in a new way. Instead of speeding storm water to the ocean as fast as possible, they find ways to keep our storm water on the land as long as possible. This can be achieved by increasing the infiltration where the rain falls, by intercepting it on the way downstream with basins and wetlands, and by repairing eroded creeks so that the water spreads out, slows down, and sinks in. (Read more about this process here.)
Sadly, none of these alternatives are part of the approved plan.
Seven San Diego environmental groups (San Diego Coastkeeper, Costal Environmental Rights Foundation, San Diego Audubon Society, Friends of Rose Canyon, Sierra Club San Diego Chapter, San Diego Canyonlands, and California Native Plant Society San Diego Chapter) have called for the city to reconsider its plan and come up with a solution that will reduce flood damage and also have beneficial effects on the rest of our environment. This call has been ignored so far, it remains to be seen whether the City Council will answer it.
-- CARRIE SCHNEIDER

County of San Diego seeking funding for Beach Water Quality monitoring

Funding for County of San Diego Beach Water Quality Monitoring:
San Diego Surfrider's Stance

This article discusses how the County of San Diego is trying to find money for the beach water quality program that they have been running for the last few years. Before the County took over the program, the beach water quality monitoring had been conducted by local environmental activitsts from, you guessed it, the Blue Water Task Force! The County claims that they no longer have money to fund the program after this year, and that they have allocated all of the general funds to other programs. Although we question the counties funding ability and priorities, we at Surfrider are willing to support them in finding other funding sources- government accountability is important to us, but for now our priority is to ensure that the beach water quality monitoring program receives funding for next year. As a part of our agreement to support the county in finding external funding sources, we are asking that they work with us to find a long term solution to this problem. Though we recognize that this time is economically difficult, it is unacceptable for us to have to wonder if our beaches will be monitored or not next year. It is obvious that the quality of our coastal waters has an enormous impact on many aspects of San Diego life, ranging from coastal tourism to recreational opportunities for residents, and we must continue to emphasize how important this monitoring is to us.

Cox to seek money for water-quality monitoring

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/10/cox-seek-money-water-quality-monitoring/


Monday, May 10, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
County Supervisor Greg Cox is launching a formal process to find money for monitoring the water quality at local beaches in 2011.
On Tuesday, he will propose to the full board of supervisors that county officials join the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board in that effort.
Environmentalists, public-health experts and others deem coastal pollution monitoring to be a critical service for residents and tourists.
Amid a budget crisis in 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used a line-item veto to remove $302,000 in annual funding for San Diego’s monitoring program, which had been among the largest in the state. He also vetoed spending in other coastal counties, creating a scramble for money statewide.
An emergency grant from the State Water Resources Control Board will pay for the pollution reporting in San Diego County through June, and the agency has pledged $123,200 in federal stimulus funds to continue the local program through 2010.
Mike Lee

The Rising Cost of Fixing Our Bad Habits

Coastal watershed degradation and dirty beaches just don’t harm local ecosystems; polluted water harms swimmers and surfers, threatens tourism, and contaminates our ground water. Education is one of the primary goals of the Blue Water Task Force. As residents of Southern California, we each have a stake in protecting our local environment. Through education and outreach, we can teach citizens the basic tenants of watershed protection and pollution mitigation. A recent article at SignOnSanDiego.com highlights the rising costs of maintaining our current system of water runoff management. You can read the article here.

Sadly, many of the problems created by polluted storm drain water are preventable. Outlined in the article are some of the simple steps you can take to limit your impact on our local watersheds:

-Clean up pet waste and put it in the garbage.

-Cover trash cans to keep out rain, which can cause leaching.

-Eliminate runoff from irrigation systems by precisely setting sprinklers and irrigation times.

-Apply fertilizers and pesticides per manufacturer guidelines.

-Minimize erosion by using mulch or ground cover on landscapes.

-Dispose of vehicle fluids and yard chemicals at centers certified for accepting household hazardous waste.

-Repair vehicle leaks promptly.

-Wash vehicles on the lawn, where water and soap can sink in.

These simple changes in behavior could eventually save the City and taxpayers millions of dollars in sewage treatment and clean-up costs. But education doesn’t just stop with Main Street; law and policy makers also need to get the message. Case in point, from the article:

“(Cid) Tesoro and other local government officials agree that clean beaches are important, but they question whether regulators know enough about the pollution problems before toughening the standards.

‘If we don’t have all the science and all the monitoring that shows there is indeed a problem, it doesn’t make sense that we spend so much money to try to resolve it,’ Tesoro said.”

As someone who has been part of BWTF for over two years, I can definitively say that that the science and monitoring show that there is indeed a problem.

We are all guilty of wanting our cake and eating it too. But as our population continues to grow and stress an already overloaded system, the price of providing clean water and beaches is also going to increase. Whether we like it or not, maintaining paradise has its cost. But if each of us takes responsibility for controlling our impact on the environment, we can lower that shared cost and enjoy the benefits of nature’s beauty and bounty for generations to come.

Heal the Ocean Releases Groundbreaking Report on Wastewater Discharge Woes

Here's an article about Heal the Bay's newly published report on wastewater discharges in California. The organization's report covers wastewater treatment facilities and other wastewater outfalls along the entire coastline.

Down the Drain:

Heal the Ocean Releases Groundbreaking Report on Wastewater Discharge Woes

Thursday, March 18, 2010
By Ethan Stewart

see the article here.

see the full report here

After more than five years of fact finding, the folks from Heal the Ocean (HTO) released a sweeping report this week on the good, the bad, and the ugly of wastewater discharge along the entire coast of California. What originally started as an effort to chart the compliance efforts and efficiency of the dozens of wastewater treatment facilities and outfall pipes along the coast of California that pump their treated product out into the Pacific Ocean morphed into something much bigger along the way. The final product is an unprecedented look at inherent and often overlooked shortcomings of our collective wastewater habits. “This is meant to be a source for the entire State of California,” explained Heal the Ocean Executive Director Hillary Hauser this week of the 128-page document and its accompanying interactive Google Earth and GIS maps, “A wastewater treatment plant is the most important environmental tool we have for the ocean, period. And we have to help them.”

Fertilization of phytoplankton with Iron to absorb CO2 could backfire...

This article is pretty interesting. In an attempt to halt global warming, scienctists have been conducting experiments in which they would feltilize phytoplankton in the ocean in order to create large blooms that would absorb Carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, it appears as if some of these phytoplankton may produce harmful toxins, the levels of which would increase as well. Enjoy!

CO{-2} study: Plankton fertilization may backfire

David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

For more than a dozen years, researchers have been fertilizing small patches of the world's oceans with iron to see if they could make the floating plants called phytoplankton flourish into massive blooms that would absorb carbon dioxide, the worst planet-warming greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

The idea was that the absorbed carbon would sink to the ocean bottom and remain there essentially forever. Many experts have hailed the idea as one surefire solution to the problem of global warming.

Now a vexing new issue has risen to challenge the whole concept: A major species of plankton that produces an environmental poison known to threaten fish life as well as humans would pose a greater environmental threat when fertilized with iron, according to a team of American and Canadian scientists.

What is Our Task?

To take action. For many of our activities as Surfrider activists, the positive results are not immediately obvious and at times it is difficult to feel like we are making a difference. The Blue Water Task Force was born when Surfrider Foundation activists decided that they wanted to take a hands-on approach to solving local water quality problems. We now have the benefit of regularly seeing the results of our actions and we are creating a valuable source of information that is being used to protect our oceans, waves, and beaches. Plus, there’s nothing quite like getting your hands dirty!

The program has spread throughout the country and activists from many chapters are now going out to their local beaches and watersheds regularly to sample and test the quality of the water. We personally take the steps necessary to protect ourselves and our ocean environment when our government fails to.

At the San Diego Chapter, we partner with San Diego Coastkeeper to monitor water quality in 11 watersheds in the San Diego Region. BWTF is extremely proud of our monthly water quality monitoring (WQM) volunteers and also our dedicated watershed captains, who will be recognized in the near future at our local chapter meetings. We also have volunteers work in the Coastkeeper lab to actually test the samples collected. We test for many different indicators, and the results of the monthly monitoring events are posted on the Coastkeeper wiki.

The water quality of the beaches is currently monitored by the County of San Diego, and the County is responsible for issuing beach advisories. We hope soon to contribute to these efforts and to make the results of this testing readily available to our members. Additionally, Heal the Bay issues beach report cards for all of the coastal counties in California, including San Diego.

Why I Volunteer: Adrian Macias, San Elijo Lagoon Watershed Captain

My name is Adrian and I’ve been a citizen water monitor for over two years. Each month I collect samples at the San Elijo Lagoon sites, which are part of our region’s Carlsbad Watershed. I first joined Surf Rider as a Cardiff resident who was concerned about regional pollution and litter.

San Elijo Lagoon, looking north

Water monitoring has always been a favorite volunteer activity of mine because it affords me the opportunity to get my hands dirty (figuratively speaking – we always wear gloves!) and spend a morning marveling at the remarkable biodiversity of the San Elijo Lagoon. Ducks, egrets, herons, mullets (a jumping fish!), dragonflies, and crabs are just some of the wildlife you can witness while wandering through the estuary. Unfortunately, trash in the form of plastics, balloons, straws, six-pack rings, and various unidentifiable debris can be found with regularity.

Plastic particles, a straw, and other pieces of trash settling on a bank

This is the pollution that we can see with our eyes. Our goal as water monitors is to find the contaminants that can’t be seen. This is what motivates me return each and every month as a citizen water monitor. The strength of the water monitoring program is dependent upon dedicated, reliable volunteers who care about the beautiful watersheds that we all share. For more information on becoming a citizen water monitor, please contact myself or Rachel and help us protect our waterways.