Hi, All:

Today, Wednesday, December 13, 2006, the city of Santa Barbara had a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the completed construction of an ultraviolet light (UV) facility to remove harmful bacteria in the Westside Storm Drain at Bohnett Park (upper cornder on San Andres side).

Heal the Ocean salutes this project! And salutes the City for getting it built. UV treatment of bacteria-laden runoff has proven very successful in other communities, removing as much as 98% of bacteria.

When the City proposed a UV treatment facility for runoff coming from industrial/storm drain area into the 303(d) listed, impaired water-body of Arroyo Burro Creek, it was amazing to see how many groups popped up to oppose it. The News-Press opposed it - on the grounds that if we install such devices into our problem areas, we’ll never solve the problem, we will rely on “end-of-pipe” technology to clean up our pollution problems, rather than get at the problem itself.

The News-Press even went down to Moonstone Beach in Encinitas, photographed two huge storm drain pipes that empty onto the beach, where a UV facility was installed - and claimed that by applying UV technology to Arroyo Burro, the creek would suddenly look like those two huge storm drain pipes (!)

As a result of all the negative publicity, the City of Santa Barbara had to turn down a huge ($900K) state grant for the Arroyo Burro UV facility. What a wasted opportunity!

Heal the Ocean feels UV is a valuable technology that can be used while we all work on finding the sources of pollution. The installation that went in today at Bohnett Park is real, in-the-ground work that will cut dangerous bacteria from getting into Mission Creek and the ocean at East Beach from this one source by as much as 98%.

We believe this kind of project is what the citizens of Santa Barbara want. All the fancy fliers and pamphlets and education in the world are not going to touch bacteria problems the way this project will, and we thank Jill Zachary and the City Creeks Division for getting this done.

To be continued…

Hillary 

Dear All:

This is what Heal the Ocean is doing today, Tuesday, December 12, 2006:

1) Rincon sewer project: This morning we worked with the Carpinteria Sanitary District to put final touches on a $1 million grant application to the state of California Prop 50 Clean Beaches Intiative Fund, to help build the Rincon sewer project.

2) Stormwater: We have put in a request to the County of Santa Barbara to let us know if it will include within its Storm Water Management Plan (SWMP) the demands we’ve made (for decent maps that define jurisdictional boundaries, as well as proper dedication of county money to stormwater management). Else we’ll proceed to a State Board hearing in Sacramento to air our complaints about the county weak approach to controlling stormwater runoff. The NRDC is joining us in this complaint/appeal.

3) USGS Groundwater Study. Later today HTO will be writing a report to the Foundations who so generously donated funds to us, to contribute to the US Geological Survey of groundwater beneath the city of Santa Barbara. One of these foundations (anonymous) has given us another $30,000 to finish up final sampling and testing in January 2007.

That’s it for now! I Hope this finds everyone taking time from hectic holiday schedules to be in nature (if you’re next to the ocean, please take time for a quiet walk on the beach). 

As this year comes to a close, I want you all to know how much we appreciate your continued support - the donations coming in on our website are heartwarming - and so helpful Thanks to all of you who are supporting us with your year-end donations on-line. With your help, we are going to have a victorious 2007!

Back to you soon,

Hillary

As of now, I will be updating this section on a regular basis… We will not allow commenting because of the spam, but please check back to see updates here! Thank you all for your support.