In many areas of the City of Santa Barbara – primarily along the waterfront, in the 101 Garden Street underpass corridor, the Cabrillo Plaza and in the industrial area west of Milpas Street – what lies below the ground is a combination of toxic soils and polluted groundwater. In some cases the soil has been so polluted that it has had to be taken to a toxic landfill for disposal. Heal the Ocean has been dogging this issue for years, and Helene Gardner, PhD in environmental toxicology has helped us get a handle on what pollution is where. Studying the State Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB) Geotracker site, Helene assembled a chart of monitoring wells and the pollutants that are in them, together with a synopsis as to how this problem remains unremedied. Stay tuned! HTO is joining forces with investigative journalist Cheri Rae, who wrote an expose of the City’s handling – or non-handling of polluted soils that were dug up at 617 Garden Street during the construction of the Mental Health facility there. HTO has been in touch with the Regional Water Quality Control Board about this issue, and will be working on getting this situation remedied, even if we have to go all the way to federal EPA. Stay tuned! See Cheri Rae’s expose in Santa Barbara View!
See HTO’s chart of monitoring wells in Santa Barbara!
See the synopsis of groundwater pollution in Santa Barbara!
www.santabarbaraview.com/index.php/2011/05/a-building-on-garden-street
In 1999, during the earliest days of HTO, someone came into our office with a vial of putrid water collected from the wall of the 101 freeway south onramp at Garden Street. We had it tested – and the bacterial readings were off the charts. The odors in this area are well known to Santa Barbara residents, especially the employees at the Home Improvement Center, who have been known to get nauseous breathing the fumes. HTO chased this issue for years, and have been led astray by officials with the City of Santa Barbara, who said this area – official address 132 Garden Street – only consisted of a wood-mulching company. Because of our complaints to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the owner of the mulching company began to cover the area with tarps during a rain. After 10 years of this runaround, we have finally learned that 132 Garden Street was the City of Santa Barbara’s dump until 1947 or 1948, when it moved its operations to Las Positas (now Elings Park). We are in the process of getting to the bottom of the mess that lies beneath the wood chipping business, and which leaks out of the freeway wall, down into the gutter and storm drains, and thence to the Laguna Channel. See HTO’s letter to the RWQCB about the unmitigated mess at 132 Garden Street.
As a result of a February 2011 lawsuit filed against the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) on behalf of HTO and Heal the Bay, Santa Monica, the SWRCB has proposed a schedule for implementing the public process for AB 885, to establish regulations and standards for the permitting and operating of septic systems in California. The SWRCB will hold scoping meetings this month (May 2011), and in November 2011 will release a draft policy and supplemental environmental documentation to the public. The revised draft policy will be released to the public in March 2012 for comment, and in July 2012 AB 885 will be adopted by the SWRCB. HTO and Heal the Bay are keeping watch to make sure the process moves forward in a timely fashion while keeping our legal options open as to decent policy language.
In April 2011, the Goleta Sanitary District (GSD) awarded PCL Construction, Inc., Arizona, a notice to proceed on building the wastewater treatment plant upgrade to full secondary standards. The good news is that construction bids for the upgrades came in about 20% lower than anticipated, and the original $50 million price tag came down to about $43.5 million. HTO defeated GSD’s application for another five-year 301(h) waiver in 2002, and in our position on the Santa Barbara County Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) 2012 steering committee, we lobbied for $500,000 in Proposition 84 funds to help pay for the cost of GSD upgrade. The wastewater plant will be operating at full secondary treatment levels by November 1, 2014. HTO is proud of this one – the effect on ocean water quality will be tangible!
During its April 2011 meeting, the HTO Junior Council voted to organize regular, monthly beach cleanups on all Santa Barbara south county beaches beginning Fall, 2011. This regular beach-cleaning service, to be held the first Sunday of every month from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., will extend from Goleta to Rincon. The HTO-JCs have established clubs in many area high schools, and these clubs will participate, too, with everyone receiving community hours for helping. By making the beach cleaning service regular, the HTO Junior Council hopes to improve the beach experience for everyone in south Santa Barbara County. For more information, contact Megan O’Meara, HTO-JC Programs director: Megan@healtheocean.org or go to the HTO JC’s newly launched website www.HTOJuniorCouncil.org to see the beach cleanup schedule, as well as other activities of the HTO-JC. (And watch Megan’s video of a HTO-JC beach cleanup to see how much fun it can be!)
HTO continues to track the progress of the development of the South Coast Recycled Water Development Plan for the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) 2012 of Santa Barbara County. In April 2012, the County was finishing up contractual details with the Department of Water Resources in Sacramento. It is expected we’ll be “up and running” to start meeting about the Recycled Water Development Plan some time during the summer 2012. The Plan will identify the most cost-effective ways to expand recycled water use in south coast area of Santa Barbara County, and in its role on the IRWM steering committee, HTO has lobbied heavily for the funds to develop this plan. Recycled wastewater (minus all contaminants) is one way of keeping wastewater out of the ocean. See the plan!
Thank you Santa Barbara Middle School www.sbms.org and Sandra O’Meara, CPA www.sandraomeara.com for being the first to sign up for sponsorship of dog bag dispensers – at Miramar Beach steps and Hammonds Trail (Middle School) and Goleta Beach east parking lot (O’Meara)! HTO is now working with Santa Barbara County Parks & Recreation to facilitate one-year agreements with businesses that will sponsor the annual cost of the bags for individual dispensers, receiving in return a highly visible one-year ad on the dispenser. For more information, list of dispensers and their prices, contact Megan@healtheocean.org.
- ission Canyon Community Plan. HTO has asked the County of Santa Barbara Planning Commission for stronger mitigation measures in the matter of septic systems being installed on properties that do not have sewer available. It is estimated that the eventual build-out of Mission Canyon will add 70 septic systems to the 235 that already exist in upper Mission Canyon.. See HTO letter!
- Summerland oil See HTO recommendation to Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
- RWQCB Amendment to the Water QUality Control Plan, Central Coast Basin, regarding onsite wastewater system implementation program. See HTO letter!
- Blasting plastic. Plastics, including single-use plastic bags, are not in the Mission Statement of HTO, but when a Santa Barbara City Councilman says plastic bags are easily digestible by marine animals, we can’t sit still for it! Read our letter in the Montecito Journal about this!
