Heal the Bay Blog

Kids Ocean Day: A Design for the Future

05.08.2015 | Matt King

Kids Ocean Day is returning to Dockweiler Beach on May 14, writes founder and today’s guest blogger Michael Kublock. It does take a village to heal the bay…

May 8, 2015 — It’s May, which for all of us at the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education means one thing: Kids Ocean Day. This Thursday, we will bring more than 3,500 students from more than 30 L.A. schools to Dockweiler Beach for a massive cleanup and to participate in an aerial artwork display, designed by a Los Angeles student and brought to life by aerial artist John Quigley.

We believe that education + action = protection. So every year, we educate Los Angeles schoolchildren about the ocean and litter through school assemblies. Then, every May, we bring all of those kids, teachers and volunteers to Dockweiler State Beach to give them a platform for action.

After 22 years, you’d think it would be old hat, but every Kids Ocean Day is unique. This year during the assemblies we noticed how personally each kid and each school felt about the ocean. They also had their own ideas about how people can come together to clean it up and protect it for generations to come. That got us thinking: How can we honor the importance of individual vision and the power of uniting for a common cause?

That question inspired some changes to this year’s Kids Ocean Day. For example, we’re adding a moment of silence and a short mindfulness practice. We’re also switching up the aerial art. In the past, we had all the participants mix together to create one message. This year, each school will form its own fish, which will “swim” together with the other schools’ fishes, to form a united school of fish. It makes sense. When it comes to protecting our ocean, our individual efforts are essential, but when we band together we can amplify our message and collectively create a beautiful world to live in.

We’re really excited about this year’s Kids Ocean Day—but we’re excited every year. We’d love for you to join us in protecting our ocean.

To volunteer for the day, email us at volunteers@kidsoceanday.org.

Kids Ocean Day is sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Stormwater Program, a project of the Bureau of Sanitation, the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, as well as the California Coastal Commission, Keep LA Beautiful and Spectral Q.

Kids Ocean Day from above. Photo Credit: Jeff Pantukhoff, Spectral Q, Kids Ocean Day

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Questioning New Pollution Limits for L.A. River

05.08.2015 | Heal the Bay

News

Is Water Quality in the L.A. River Impacted by Metals? Supposedly not…

Peter Shellenbarger, Heal the Bay’s Water Resources Manager, weighs in on the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s recent changes to water quality standards for lead and copper in the Los Angeles River Watershed.

May 8, 2015 — The Los Angeles River was once the center of civilization in Los Angeles. Much has changed since then – some good, some bad. Unfortunately, water quality in the river and its many tributaries is an example of the latter. Although water quality has improved over the years, our waterways still need some serious help.

Four Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)* have been adopted to control metals, trash, nutrients and bacteria pollution in Los Angeles’ major fluvial artery. Earlier last month, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board approved revisions to the metals Total Maximum Daily Load, ultimately allowing higher copper and lead concentrations in the watershed. Currently, according to the Board, the watershed is no longer polluted by copper and lead.

We have major concerns with this logic.

Changing a water quality standard is very serious business. Although the TMDL changes adhere to general guidelines established by the US EPA for the entire country, we believe more rigorous analyses are in order. Los Angeles County is the most populous county in the United States, and analyses conducted here should look different than in less developed parts of the country. It is unclear if the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board agrees.

We have several concerns with the changes to the water quality standards, but they all revolve around two items: representative data collection and analyses. Data collection should be thorough and strategic, and proven over many years of sampling. Data used to base pollution limits should also be representative of the environmental conditions where metals are most harmful to aquatic life. Unfortunately, the data used to support the board’s decision had a number of identified data gaps, yet it was still used to make the conclusion that more copper is okay for aquatic life in the Los Angeles River.

Heal the Bay believes it was premature to adopt these changes. It’s hard to believe that aquatic life is no longer being impacted by metals in the Los Angeles River when little has been done to reduce metals pollution, and the justification for changing the metals TMDL relies on such limited, incomplete data. Luckily, the State Water Resources Control Board and the US EPA still need to approve the changes, so we’ll be donning our science hats and advocacy sticks in the coming months to set up meetings and submit formal comments to these agencies expressing our concerns.

We hope they agree that the Los Angeles River needs more help.

*If you don’t know what a Total Maximum Daily Load is, it’s a kind of regulatory guidance that establishes a road map for what kind and how much pollution can enter waterways without impacting their many uses.

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Stormwater Capture Takes Flight at LAX

05.08.2015 | Matt King

Los Angeles Stormwater News

A long-in the-works stormwater capture project finally takes off at LAX, reports Heal the Bay VP Sarah Sikich.

May 8, 2015 – When it sprinkles, it can pour. Yesterday was a good day for the L.A. Basin, not only because it got a dash of much-needed rain. Our parched region also took a major step forward in much-needed stormwater capture and groundwater recharge.

If you’ve been to LAX lately, you’ve likely noticed that many terminals are going through construction to receive a long-overdue facelift. Soon that effort will go underground–to construct a large-scale stormwater treatment project to clean polluted LAX runoff before it reaches Santa Monica Bay.

After several years of negotiations, Mayor Eric Garcetti signed an agreement with the Los Angeles World Airports and L.A. Sanitation to launch a $40 million runoff treatment project that will also recharge the local groundwater basin. The project is slated to be completed in 2019. Runoff from more than 2,400 acres of highly urbanized and paved land in and around LAX will now be captured and infiltrated into the ground, as well as being diverted to Hyperion for treatment.

Runoff is the largest source of pollution to Santa Monica Bay. Runoff from LAX now funnels completely untreated into the nearby ocean, dumping a slurry of chemicals, metals and bacteria into popular swimming spots. The newly unveiled project will help clean up water quality along Dockweiler Beach, benefitting the diversity of beachgoers that visit the popular destination–a day at the beach should never make anyone sick.

Three-quarters of the funding comes from voter-approved Proposition O, passed in 2004, which authorized up to $500 million in bond funding for the City of Los Angeles to advance a number of projects that protect water quality, provide flood protection and increase water conservation, habitat protection and open space.

With drier climate projections, it’s important to find creative ways to capture and reuse runoff. We recognize that such changes take major investment, and we hope that the project will bring awareness to the importance of finding innovative ways to fund projects and programs that provide holistic benefits to water quality, reliability, local water supply and healthy watersheds.

Heal the Bay was proud to be part of yesterday’s big announcement, as we helped pass Proposition O when Mark Gold, our then-president and current board member, served on the oversight committee The LAX project could not have been realized without the persistent advocacy and support of our environmental partners, including Mark Gold, Miguel Luna, TreePeople and Los Angeles Waterkeeper.

Let’s hope this is the start of something beautiful.

Mayor Garcetti signing the agreement yesterday. Heal the Bay VP Sarah Sikich (second from left) looks on.

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Savvy Seafood – Know what's on your plate

05.07.2015 | Heal the Bay

Heal the Bay Aquarium Santa Monica

Savvy Seafood

Each time we go to a supermarket or restaurant we are confronted with a choice about what food items to buy. Health concerns and a growing desire to eat local and sustainable foods have made this decision harder than ever. Each month, Nick Fash, education specialist and Key to the Sea manager at our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, will help you make informed choices at the seafood counter as well as at your favorite local restaurant. And try one of his delectable recipes included at the end of this blog.

________________________________________________________________________

Salmon? What exactly does this mean when you read it on a menu? The truth is that it could be farmed, or wild, or any one of six different fishes from two different groups from opposite ends of the earth. Not so simple anymore, is it?

There are two basic types of salmon: Atlantic and Pacific. The Atlantic salmon is in the genus Salmo and originally came from the Atlantic Ocean (I say originally as they are now farmed all over the world) and Pacific salmon is in the genus Oncorhynchus, which come from the Pacific Ocean.

Salmon are born in fresh water, travel to the ocean in their adult life and return to the fresh water to lay eggs. They are a keystone species, meaning they play an important role in the nutrient-starved ecosystems where they spawn. When the Pacific salmon die, the nutrients in their body that they obtained from their lives out in the ocean are released into the Arctic, beginning the explosion of life that occurs during the spring and summer months. Without these nutrients the Arctic ecosystem would be unable to function properly.

Salmon are extremely sensitive to environmental changes in the ocean as well as on land. Their populations are suffering from logging, mining, pollution and changing ocean conditions. And salmon farming is the most recent threat having a major impact. Not only are these salmon farms destroying the ecosystem with all of the waste they produce, they are spreading diseases and parasites to the wild salmon as they migrate out to the ocean. So we are not only destroying one of nature’s finest food sources, replacing them with highly inferior farmed salmon, we are also at the risk of dismantling an entire ecosystem.

While here in Southern California we do not have open pen aquaculture – salmon farms set up off shore along the coast – we do have other problems that impact salmon populations, like pollution, coastal development and habitat destruction, which can impact our own fisheries. Heal the Bay has spent the last 30 years cleaning up our waters, protecting our oceans by helping to establish Marine Protection Areas, and working to make our fisheries healthier.

Looking to learn more about the plight of wild Pacific salmon? Come to the screening of The Breach on May 20^th at Cross Campus in Santa Monica, eat tasty treats, and hear chefs, biologists and the filmmaker discuss what we can all do to help.

Heal the Bay members will get 20 percent off the ticket price by using the code BREACH20. Tickets are available here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-breach-screening-reception-santa-monica-tickets-16436392693 _______________________________________________________________________

Wild Alaskan Salmon

(serves 4)

o 3lb Wild Alaskan Salmon fillet, with skin on

Sauce

o 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

o 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

o 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

o 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

o ½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest

o 1 teaspoon fresh orange juice

o ¾ teaspoon salt

o ¼ teaspoon honey

Preheat broiler. Line rack of broiler with foil and lightly brush with oil.

Pat filet dry and check for bones by running finger along the filet. If you find any bones you can pull them out with a pair of clean pliers. Season with salt and pepper. Broil 4-5 inches from heat for 7 minutes, cover with foil and continue to cook in the broiler for another 7-10 minutes.

While the salmon is broiling whisk together all sauce ingredients. Season with pepper to taste

Enjoy – Nick

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Thank You Thursday

05.07.2015 | Heal the Bay

Santa Monica

Last month’s Earth Day beach cleanup in Santa Monica was a huge success, with 1,400 volunteers picking up 320 pounds of trash. Getting all the cleanup supplies to the beach was made so much easier with the help of our new friends at Buddytruk, a smartphone app. Thanks to Tim Kolenut for reaching out, and offering up his trucks to transport 200 buckets and other cleanup supplies to the Earth Day cleanup.

Who doesn’t like free ice cream? Ben & Jerry’s pulled up next to our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium on a recent Friday afternoon, scooping out cups of ice cream and encouraging all to sign a petition on climate change and the need for clean energy. Their solar-paneled truck wrapped with Ben & Jerry’s signature cows and a similarly adorned Tesla provided a win-win-win situation: education on climate change, attention for our amazing aquarium and delicious free ice cream.

And last but not least, thanks to Abigaile Restaurant in Hermosa Beach for hosting our Heal the Bay/Surfrider No on O thank you event. Greg Simons and his staff were most generous in accommodating our April 21 victory party.

Heal the Bay staff are preeeetty psyched about the free scoops!

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How We Can Save L.A.’s Remaining Wetlands

04.29.2015 | Heal the Bay

Ballona Wetlands News

Heal the Bay is synonymous with the ocean. We surf it, we swim it, we dive it, we fish it, and we work day in and day out to make it cleaner, healthier and more productive for Southern California. But the ocean is just part of the picture: Our local wetlands, endangered and often overlooked, play a critical role in L.A.’s complex water story. Heal the Bay is proud to announce the next chapter in the goal of restoring these vital ecosystems.

The Wetland Restoration principles

Heal the Bay has been steadfast in advocating for the protection and restoration of wetlands in the region. We supported the recently completed restoration project at Malibu Lagoon to improve its circulation, water quality and habitat. And now, various plans are currently being considered for the restoration of the Ballona Wetlands, a unique expanse of open space wedged between Playa del Rey and the Marina. Heal the Bay will carefully review a draft Environmental Impact Report, slated for release this winter, to determine which alternative we think will best bring back a thriving wetland ecosystem.

To aid with this decision, Heal the Bay, along with a coalition of partners from Friends of Ballona Wetlands, L.A. Waterkeeper and Surfrider Foundation, will look to the Wetland Restoration Principles—a comprehensive, scientific set of guidelines developed by coalition members over the last year. This nine-tenet protocol establishes clear, practical guidelines for wetlands restoration projects in Southern California and beyond.

Scroll down or click for a downloadable, printable PDF of the Wetland Restoration Principles.

A brief history of wetlands in L.A.

Wetlands, as the name suggests, are areas of land partially covered by water. Their value is incalculable: They provide nursery, shelter and feeding grounds for fish and wildlife, purify water through filtration of pollutants, recycle nutrients, and act as a buffer against the impacts of climate change by storing carbon from the atmosphere and protecting us from extreme weather. Unfortunately, as a result of urbanization, the channelization of natural waterways (the L.A. River being a prime example) and the impacts of pollution and invasive species, over 95% of Southern California’s wetlands have been lost. Those few that remain, like the Ballona Wetlands, have been greatly degraded and reduced in size. Under constant threat from human activity, the need to restore our remaining wetlands is urgent and essential.

By creating the user-friendly, open-source Principles of Wetland Restoration document, we hope to make the future of these vital ecosystems a little less murky.

Want to keep tabs on wetlands restoration efforts in your neck of the woods?
Click below to join our mailing list.

The Wetland Restoration Principles were developed in collaboration with the following partner organizations:

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Dorothy Green's Drought Fixes Still Ring True

04.16.2015 | Matt King

Take Action

Dorothy Green, Heal the Bay’s founding president, always looked at the Big Picture. In the chess game that is California politics, she always thought two moves ahead. When it came to advocating for effective change, she had an uncanny ability to cut to the heart of the matter. Long before our drought reached epidemic proportions, she warned about the havoc that would arise from the state’s dysfunctional water supply management.

Indeed, just days before her death in 2008, Dorothy Green’s last public act was an editorial in the Los Angeles Times outlining her recommendations to improve water management in California. These prescient words ring true today.

Dorothy’s Law

Water supply sources from the Colorado River and within the state are at record lows, given the current conditions of global warming. The ecological collapse of the San Francisco Bay Delta heightens the legal and regulatory restrictions of water allocations. Land use development continues disconnected from sustainable water supplies. Current bond proposals are geared to fund dams and canals, which is a supply option from the past. These are the very policies that combined with wasting water, got us to where we are today, which is a looming water crisis. By putting first things first, Dorothy’s priorities to manage water will bring us forward to the 21st century.

We call upon the State of California to sufficiently fund the State Water Resources Control Board so that it can do its duty effectively. We call upon the State Water Resources Control Board to:

Create a meaningful structure for water rights that will conduct a review of past water-rights decisions to bring them in line with existing supplies, and allocate water according to the public trust doctrine.
Call for an end to federal subsidies for water-intensive crops. Instead, let the free market control pricing for those types of crops.
Conduct an exhaustive and critical review of water transfers.
Set mandatory statewide conservation targets for all water uses.
Develop a sustainable water plan with enforcement mechanisms, to include financial penalties and operating restrictions, as well as an independent and public biennial assessment of the plan’s implementation.
Develop a steady revenue stream to improve water rights and enforcement system.
The sustainable water plan should:

demand an allocation of water rights based on available supply
implement a ban on discharging wastewater into our drinking water supplies unless it meets public health standards
meter every water use throughout the state
require use of recycled water throughout the state
mandate low-impact development for all projects, including transportation
fast track a groundwater cleanup program.

This synopsis was assembled for Dorothy’s memorial by several environmental leaders that she mentored: Mark Gold, former president of Heal the Bay; Paula Daniels, former Heal the Bay board president and appointee to the California Water Commission; and Conner Everts, executive director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance

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Earth Month With Heal the Bay

04.15.2015 | Heal the Bay

News

Guess what month it is?

That’s right, April is Earth Month! Heal the Bay’s got you covered with a roster of volunteer opportunities and events happening at the beach, our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and all around the Southland. Join us!

Earth Month Nothin’ But Sand Beach Cleanup

Do you like trashy beaches? Neither do we! Everyone’s invited to lend a hand (or two) this Saturday to join our amazing group of volunteers helping keep our beaches clean. Participants earn free admission to our Aquarium that afternoon.

When: Saturday, April 18th, 10am-12pm
Where: Santa Monica Beach at the end of Ocean Park Blvd, 2600 Barnard Way, Santa Monica

Earth Day Celebration at Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

After participating in the beach cleanup, mosey on up to our Aquarium under the Pier–you’ve earned free admission for the day! Featuring hands-on activities, demonstrations and an all-new exhibit, it’s a great way for the whole family to conclude their morning of volunteering.

When: Saturday, April 18th, 11am–5pm
Where: Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, 1600 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica (under the Pier carousel)

Communicating Climate Change: Professional Development Workshop

Where do you fit into the climate change conversation? The USC-Sea Grant and Heal the Bay will be hosting the Department of Water Resources (DWR) Climate Change Team for this educational event at the University of Southern California. Come learn about Project WET and see what’s being done to address the effects of climate change on California’s water supply.

When: Saturday, April 25th 8:30am-4:30pm
Where: USC, 3616 Trousdale Pkwy, Alan Hancock Building AHF 252, Los Angeles CA 90089

Other volunteer opportunities throughout L.A.

Heal the Bay is invited to many community events throughout the greater Los Angeles areas that allow us to reach hundreds of coastal and inland community members. With the help of amazing volunteers like you, we are able to spread our message all throughout the county.

Click here for a calendar listing of outreach events

What else can you do?

5 Earth Month Tips for Greener Living

Go meatless at least one day a week. Did you know that nearly half of the average Californian’s water footprint comes from eating meat and dairy products? It takes 7.7 cubic meters of water to produce one pound of beef–that’s like 77 baths!
Use water-saving appliances at home. Don’t waste water while you lather in the shower! Families using appliances like a showerhead with a WaterSense label could save as much as 2,900 gallons a year. Angelenos: There could be rebates in it for you…
Test your toilet! Add some dye or food coloring to your toilet tank so you can see leaks and potentially save wasted gallons (and dollars) on your next water bill.
Get a reusable water bottle. Americans use an average of 50 billion plastic bottles a year, most of which end up in landfills or littering our environment. You can significantly cut down on your plastic waste and save money on bottled water by purchasing a refillable drinking bottle for about $10.
Become a Heal the Bay monthly member. Celebrate the 30th birthday of Southern California’s most effective by becoming a member this Earth Month. We welcome contributions of any size!

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Heal the Bay's Top 3 Fixes for the Drought

04.15.2015 | Matt King

Los Angeles Stormwater Take Action

L.A. needn’t be so dumb in a time of perilous drought. Here’s Heal the Bay’s top three fixes.

California faces an uncertain water future. The record drought coupled with climate change and other stressors has called into question the practicality of importing 80% of L.A.’s water supply. Simply put, imported water is unreliable and expensive. Desalination plants are incredibly energy intensive and create a whole slew of environmental challenges. Instead, our region needs to be smarter about maximizing the water that we already have. The alternative is not rosy: an unsecure water supply at a much higher cost.

Capturing Stormwater and Other Urban Runoff

Dumb: Each day roughly 10 million gallons of urban runoff flows through L.A County stormdrains, picking up pollutants and flowing directly into the sea without the benefit of any treatment. It’s why many of our beaches remain chronically polluted. The waste on our shorelines is terrible, but the waste of water in a time of extreme drought is equally maddening.

Smart: Capturing that runoff and recharging it into our aquifers so that it can be used to augment local water supply.

The potential: After a storm, as much as 10 billion gallons of water is wasted flowing into the sea from stormdrains. That’s enough to fill 100 Rose Bowls!

How to get there: It will take significant resolve and funding, but watershed management plans that prioritize building multi-beneift stormwater capture projects must be implemented.

What Heal the Bay is doing: Our policy team is helping to shape watershed management plans for our region over the coming year. Our staff scientists are playing a lead role with the City of Los Angeles to develop a public funding mechanism to build critical projects. We hope to get funding in place for 2016.

Recycling Treated Wastewater

Dumb: Each day, dischargers send millions of gallons of highly treated wastewater into local rivers and the Pacific Ocean. It’s not helping water quality, and it’s certainly not helping us combat drought.

Smart: Recycling wastewater to help offset potable water use and inject recycled water to replenish our aquifers.

The potential: Each day the Hyperion Treatment Plant discharges up to 450 million gallons of wastewater into Santa Monica Bay. If highly cleansed water was recycled, it could eventually supply enough water for daily use by 1.8 million people.

How to get there: We need to reuse every drop we have, rather than just importing increasingly scarce water.About 2.4 million Orange County residents get their water from a massive aquifer, which has been recharged with billions of gallons of highly cleansed wastewater. Los Angeles can follow Orange County’s lead, and move beyond “toilet to tap” fears. (We prefer Mayor Garcetti’s term: “showers to flowers.”) We need to spend the capital to enhance treatment levels at many facilities and expand the recycled water infrastructure

What Heal the Bay is doing: We are advocating for the implementation of the Los Angeles Groundwater Replenishment Project, which will use up to 30,000 acre-feet per year of highly purified water from the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant to replenish the San Fernando Groundwater Basin. Environmental review is already underway, and the City of Los Angeles hopes to meet this goal by 2035 or sooner.

Cleaning Up Our Local Aquifers

Dumb: Allowing contaminated plumes to expand in our aquifers, thereby reducing our local groundwater supply. The San Fernando Groundwater Basin is contaminated primarily due to improper handling and disposal of solvents since the 1940s.

Smart: Treating the contaminated groundwater so that it can be used as a source and so the aquifers can be used as a type of “storage” for recharged stormwater and recycled water.

The potential: The City has the rights to pump up to 87,000 acre-feet of water annually. That’s enough water to meet the demands of the greater L.A. Basin for two months out of the year.

How to get there: We need to allocate significant funds to clean up the groundwater, but in time of persistent drought it will serve as a sound investment.

What Heal the Bay is doing: Our advocacy staff supports funding through Proposition 1 and the Metropolitan Water District to help clean up the San Fernando Valley aquifer. LADWP hopes to have the remediation facilities in operation by 2022.

Improved water supply and improved water quality are inextricably linked. Heal the Bay will continue to advocate for smart projects that help us achieve both goals. The drought will require sacrifice and investment. Let’s just make sure we are investing wisely.

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California Adopts Nation's First Trash Policy

04.10.2015 | Heal the Bay

Ballona Wetlands News

Gov. Brown took a bold and necessary action to restrict California’s water use, writes Heal the Bay vp Sarah Sikich. But there’s much more to be done.

April 2, 2015 —

– See more at: https://healthebay.org/blogs-news/scoring-gov-browns-urgent-drought-directive#sthash.dJaX6i7D.dpuf

Gov. Brown took a bold and necessary action to restrict California’s water use, writes Heal the Bay vp Sarah Sikich. But there’s much more to be done.

April 2, 2015 —

– See more at: https://healthebay.org/blogs-news/scoring-gov-browns-urgent-drought-directive#sthash.dJaX6i7D.dpuf

Heal the Bay VP Sarah Sikich reports from Sacramento on a tremendous victory for the health of California’s waterways. Read on for details about the state’s brand-new Trash Policy, for which Heal the Bay has been advocating for years.

April 8, 2015 – The State Water Resources Control Board made history this week by unanimously adopting the first statewide Trash Policy in the nation. This groundbreaking legislation will prohibit the dumping of trash into state waters, protecting thousands of miles of California’s waterways and coastline. The policy is based largely on pollution limits Heal the Bay helped advance for the Los Angeles River and Ballona Creek over a decade ago, which have kept millions of pounds of trash from entering our local waters. Along with the many other local actions taken throughout the state to prevent the scourge of plastic pollution, this policy is a huge step forward in the campaign for a cleaner, bluer California.

Why was pursuing this policy a priority for Heal the Bay? For three primary reasons: Litter blights our communities, threatens aquatic life and is staggeringly expensive for cities and counties to clean up. A USEPA report estimates that West Coast communities spend over $520 million each year to clean up and prevent trash from reaching our waterways. A new study published in February 2015 estimated that in 2010 alone between 4-12 million metric tons of plastic washed into the world’s oceans–enough to cover every foot of coastline worldwide. This amount of plastic is predicted to increase tenfold by 2025.

Where is all this trash coming from? It’s estimated that up to 80% of the garbage polluting our oceans comes from inland. California’s new Trash Policy will require municipalities to tackle this problem in one of two ways: Either by installing trash capture devices throughout the stormdrain system or by implementing other trash elimination programs or projects (e.g., banning foam food containers, street sweeping or litter prevention education). Municipalities that opt for the latter approach will need to monitor their efforts to demonstrate the necessary trash reductions, and local governments have a maximum of 10 years to comply with the policy.

Although some local government officials complained about these new regulations, the policy enjoyed strong business and environmental support. Heal the Bay will continue to help cities and counties across California comply with the policy by encouraging source control options for the pollutants most prevalent in the litter stream, like polystyrene foam food containers, bottle caps and cigarette butts. We will also help local governments find creative ways to fund stormwater pollution prevention projects that address trash and other pollution issues, like bacteria and metals pollution.

Heal the Bay has been working with the State Water Board on this landmark Trash Policy for over five years, including serving on its public advisory committee. We’ve worked in close partnership with California Coastkeeper Alliance, Seventh Generation Advisors, Clean Water Action, NRDC, Algalita Marine Research Foundation and others to bring this policy to Sacramento. We’re incredibly grateful to State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus, Vice Chair Fran Spivy-Weber and Board Members Tam Doduc, Steven Moore, and Doreen D’Adamo for their leadership on this issue. And a special thanks to Heal the Bay members and supporters who’ve signed countless petitions and sent letters and emails to state officials urging the adoption of this policy. Local activism works!

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