(click on the cover to download)….
Check out the latest publication from Heal the Ocean. Inside you’ll find information about HTO’s latest efforts to purify our coastline.
After 15 years of wrangling, lawsuits and various permitting obstructions of all kinds, the Rincon Point portion of the South Coast Beach Communities Septic to Sewer Project, which will remove the septic systems from Rincon Point, South Santa Barbara County as well as North Ventura County, has cleared the final hurdles of permitting.
As a member of the Santa Barbara County Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) steering committee, HTO is pleased to report to our members that after one year of deliberations, the final list of projects being submitted to the State for Round 2 Proposition 84 grant funding includes $3 million for the upgrade of the City of Santa Barbara’s recycled water treatment plant, to include microfiltration (Phase II of the upgrade will add partial reverse osmosis). Other projects included in the Santa Barbara County grant list are:Heal the Ocean works to get wastewater treatment plants up to higher treatment levels (i.e. our 2002 win to have the Goleta Sanitary District upgrade to full secondary treatment). As a way of keeping wastewater out of the ocean, HTO is now involved in finding funds for sanitary districts to join with water districts to produce recycled wastewater totally cleaned of CECs (contaminants of emerging concern), suitable for irrigation and other uses. This program ties in with California’s dire need of water in a worsening draught.
Septic systems operate on the principle of leaching, and they must be removed from inappropriate beach and creek areas. “Cluster overuse” must be dealt with by sewer hookup. HTO facilitates homeowner associations to hook up to sewer, i.e., our recent successful campaign for the “South Coast Beach Communities Septic to Sewer Project,” wherein 7 miles of beaches will be cleared of septic systems.
(e.g. stormwater and groundwater). HTO has worked to toughen storm water permits for Santa Barbara County and every city in Santa Barbara County, has worked with USGS and the City of Santa Barbara on a three-year groundwater study. We lobby for increased street sweeping and enforcement for illegal dumping into creeks and drains.
Dredge and fill operations in the name of “restoring beaches” will not be performed unless materials are suitable, and clean for beaches, and plans do not cause smothering of near-shore sea life.
We are taking an active role in the issue of pollutants leaching into the sea and into groundwater from unlined landfills. HTO research now includes the examination of data from monitoring wells in Santa Barbara’s waterfront area for both old landfill sites and unresolved LUST (leaking underground storage tank) sites.