Heal the Bay Blog

We now have a better understanding of why sea lion pups began stranding themselves on Santa Monica Bay beaches last year, writes staff scientist Dana Murray.

An emaciated sea lion pup looks lost on a Santa Monica beach. Lying motionless near the shore, he doesn’t look like he’s doing very well. The pup’s bony spine and ribs are visible through his tan skin. Concerned passers-by  wonder why he isn’t with his mother. Feeling helpless, they ask what can be done to help this poor animal.

This disturbing scene was a far-too-common sight last spring on our shorelines. Hundreds of sea lion pups, babies younger than a year old, found themselves isolated and starving on our beaches. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would declare the strandings an “unusual mortality event,” or “UME,” in Southern California.

After months of mystery, we now have a better idea of what caused this unfortunate event.

This past week NOAA released the results of their research, which indicates that the large number of stranded, malnourished pups can be attributed in part to a decrease in the availability of prey for nursing mother sea lions, specifically sardines.  Lack of high quality, close-by food sources was the culprit – not disease, or radiation from Fukushima (as some might have speculated).

Indeed, evidence shows that sardine spawning grounds shifted further offshore locally in 2012 and 2013, making it harder for mama sea lions to catch their food. Many female California sea lions couldn’t provide adequate milk to nourish their pups, resulting in premature weaning. However, NOAA is still investigating other causes as well.

Stay tuned for more information as it develops. And a reminder: if you do encounter seals or sea lions on our shores this summer, remember to keep people and pets at least 100 feet away from the animal. Do not pour water or sand on the sea lion. You can call local marine mammal rescuers at 310-458-WILD.

During the previous stranding, Heal the Bay fielded dozens of calls from the public and networked with our many partners to help out.

Facilities such as the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro soon became full of these baby sea lions. A few months later, other animals such as elephant seals had no space to go for rehabilitation when they started showing up sick and injured. As a result, Heal the Bay worked with major donors and foundations to help fund the construction of a new facility for injured and sick elephant seals at the California Wildlife Center in Malibu.

These fine organizations still need help, so support them if you can.

Kirsten James, Heal the Bay’s science and policy director for water quality, writes that there are a number of reasons to celebrate a recent win in the fight against toxic local waterbodies.

At the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing last week (May 8), something big happened.  An important decision didn’t draw large crowds (only a few high paid attorneys) or make headline news, but it marked an uplifting win for local water quality standards, something that Heal the Bay has been waiting for since 2003.  Let’s start at the beginning.

The Los Angeles Basin Plan – the document that helps guide our region’s water quality protection – requires that surface waters be maintained free of substances in concentrations that are toxic.  So the permits that regulate discharges from wastewater treatment facilities contained numeric toxicity limits for many years to make sure the discharge didn’t make aquatic life die or have non-lethal impacts (for you “Simpsons” fans, think of Blinky).  With the plethora of chemicals being discharged into our wastewater systems, toxicity tests act as a safety net in the permitting system.

However the real-world effectiveness of these toxicity standards fell into question when the Los Angeles County Sanitation District petitioned its permit to the State Water Board in 2003, and the State Board punted on a decision to actually put any teeth into enforcement.  From that point on, permits in our region and others in the state were modified to remove toxicity limits. The watered-down regulations employed a weak “trigger” for regulatory oversight, which basically led to no consequences — even if a discharge could kill aquatic life.

Aerial view of Mugu Lagoon and Calleguas Creek in Ventura County

Meanwhile in 2005, the Regional Board developed a numeric pollution limit (TMDLs) for discharges to Calleguas Creek in Ventura County. Chlorpyrifos, diazinon and other pesticides and toxicants were causing toxicity in the water body.  However, the Regional Board held off on putting the limits in permits because of the State Board indecision.

Frustrated with the State Board’s indecision, the resulting weak permits and the lack of implementation of the TMDL, Heal the Bay released a report in 2009 titled License to Kill that explored the repercussions of failing to include numeric limits in the permits.  Analyzing the data from 2000-08, we found hundreds of instances of toxicity and very little repercussions for polluting our waters. Essentially that meant little to no follow-up from dischargers and no enforcement by the Regional Water Board.

The report prompted the release of a draft statewide toxicity policy (with a proposed numeric limit) back in 2010.  Heal the Bay has attended many hearings and workshops and submitted extensive comments on the 2010 draft and a number of other drafts over the last few years.  Despite our urging and the prompting of environmental groups, fishing groups and others, the State Board has sat on the policy. They have allowed toxic discharges to continue to inland waters with practically no repercussions for the last 11 years.

So last week, our Regional Water Board got tired of waiting and could not justify continuing with the weak toxicity “trigger” regulatory approach.   They unanimously adopted three wastewater treatment facility permits (Camarillo Water Reclamation Plant, Thousand Oaks Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plan and Simi Valley Water Reclamation Facility) with a numeric toxicity limit.

The Regional Board took a prudent step forward to protect water quality and its members should be commended.  I recognize that there are many competing priorities for the State Water Board – most recently drought response.  However, this does not excuse potentially allowing toxic discharge to our state’s waterbodies for so many years.  The State Board should adopt statewide numeric toxicity limits, as was done in the three local permits, and not expose our waterbodies to toxic discharge any longer.   Hopefully the Regional Board action can serve as the catalyst needed to move the State Board forward on the long overdue state toxicity policy.  Aquatic life has suffered long enough.

We celebrated Earth Day last Saturday with about 1,800 friends who cleaned the beach on the North side of the Santa Monica Pier, picking up more than 600 pounds of trash. Some also built sand castles and visited our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium – and a few capped the day with a cold Heal the Bay IPA.

Thanks to Stephen Supernor and his AmeriCorps group of Team Blue 4-Pacific region volunteers who provided help toting supplies and giving safety talks for the beach cleanup.  

Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds sponsored the family sand castle building contest, allowing us to provide everyone with those essential tools: a bucket and shovel. 

Kudos to our Corporate partners who took sandcastle-building to another level. The following nine firms participated: ARC Engineering, Bernards, Gensler, HOK, Pivot, REI, RTKL, Steinberg Architects and Tangram.

In the Aquarium, underwater photographer Richard Salas took us all along on his dives from Mexico to the Equator, sharing awe-inspiring photographs and accompanying stories.

Looking ahead, we’re thankful to Union Bank for renewing support for Coastal Cleanup Day.

The time has come to cast your ballots!

Attention film buffs: Our Stoked on the Coast Student Film Festival is closed to new submissions but OPEN for public voting between now and midnight, Saturday, September 12. Please share the link and encourage your friends to vote!

Stoked on the Coast Student Film Festival Background

Supported by a generous grant from the California Coastal Conservancy, Stoked on the Coast is a new kind of film festival organized by Heal the Bay staff. As we’re firm believers in the wisdom of children, the contest is only open to students from 5th grade through age 21. We’re inviting young auteurs throughout California to submit a short film (from six seconds to three minutes) that tells the story of why they’re passionate about the ocean. It can be straightforward or silly, meditative or madcap, narrative or stream-of-conscious — it just needs to be authentic.

“This contest gives us a unique perspective on marine conservation: By seeing how the ocean creatively inspires young people, we can better channel that energy into the next generation of stewards,” says Meredith McCarthy, our programs director.

It wouldn’t be a festival without pomp and circumstance, so we’ll be hosting a special Stoked on the Coast soiree later this summer. All entries will be screened, and a variety of prizes will be awarded by celebrity judges. Ultimately, every Stoker is a winner.

Learn more about the festival and enter your films here.

Get stoked, and please share with educators, young film buffs and ocean-lovers everywhere!

Got questions? Contact Edward Murphy, Heal the Bay’s Watershed Education Manager and Stoked on the Coast program coordinator.

Feeling a bit spacey today?

Well, have we got an offer for you – a chance to hitch a ride to outer space.

Through a unique partnership with the Urgency Network and the charitable foundation of the rock band Incubus, Heal the Bay supporters have a chance to do what only 500 or so people have ever done before – enter the final frontier and see the surface of the Earth from a spaceship cockpit.

Safely ensconced in a Lynx Mark II, you’ll have a thrill of a lifetime breaking the sound barrier and being thrust into space from a launch pad in the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Reaching the apogee at 100km, you’ll float in silent, pitch-black darkness for a few minutes before descending back to Earth and gliding home.

Going to space has long been the domain of governments, but private space adventure travel has literally taken off. Now you have the chance to hit infinity and beyond. The good news is that you don’t have to be a millionaire to get there.

By donating now to Heal the Bay, you will be automatically entered into a contest to win a seat on the very first Space Expedition Corp. spaceflight, scheduled for late 2015. For every $10 donated to Heal the Bay at the Urgency Network website, you’ll get 50 entries into the sweepstakes, which is being promoted by three dozen other nonprofits as well. The more you give, the greater your chance of becoming an official astronaut. You can win additional entries by completing tasks like signing petitions or sharing the opportunity on Facebook and Twitter.

The contest ends July 21, so start your G-force training now. Whether it’s the land or the ocean, a better planet begins with a better perspective. See you in space!

Heal the Bay president Ruskin Hartley says it’s time to stop flushing billions of gallons of water into the Bay.

I’d been living in Los Angeles for about six months when a three-day storm hit back in February. I had begun to wonder what all the fuss was about stormwater. Could it really be that bad? Now I know the answer is yes — but not just for the pollution it causes.

I was delighted by the waterfalls that popped up in Topanga Canyon. I was saddened to see the torrent of trash flowing down Chautauqua into the ocean. But what really shocked me was when I learned that the three-day storm, in the middle of an historic drought, flushed enough water into the ocean to meet the needs of our region for one-quarter of a year. That’s crazy.

At a time when cities in Northern California face rationing, and farms in the Central Valley lie fallow, we are flushing billions of gallons of water into the ocean. That same water is causing huge environmental problems because of the trash, pathogens, and toxins it carries. There must be a better way.

Fortunately, there is. There is a growing consensus across the region that stormwater is not just a pollutant, but a valuable source of water. Stormwater capture projects, when done well, deliver water quality benefits, water supply benefits, and bring much needed green space into our city. It is true that stormwater capture is not a panacea for our supply needs. But it is an important part of a portfolio of projects to increase local water reliability that includes water conservation, water recycling, and groundwater cleanup. Today we import 90 percent of our water from more than 100 miles away. At the same time, we dump 350 million gallons a day of treated effluent into the Santa Monica Bay from the Hyperion Treatment Plant, and discharge billions of gallons of polluted stormwater into the bay every time it rains. It’s past time to bring these three separate systems together and focus on an approach to integrated water in our region.

There is some great work underway throughout the region to do this and to deal with stormwater pollution. For example, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Stormwater Capture Master Plan currently in development is looking at infiltration systems built into city streets and improved spreading grounds to refill our groundwater supplies. Countywide, projects are being developed under the MS4 permit to capture and clean up stormwater. More is needed to integrate these projects and look across agency jurisdictions, but that’s not the biggest challenge. What is missing is funding.

In November 2004, voters in the City of Los Angeles approved Proposition O — the Clean Water, Ocean, River, Beach and Bay measure — with an overwhelming yes vote. In the past decade, Prop O has funded dozens of projects, including the restoration of Echo Park Lake and installation of thousands of trash capture devices in storm drains. But as of January 2014, almost $492 million of the $500 million bond was obligated. These projects are helping to get us on track, but there is much more to be done. Without new funding, the rivers, creeks and beaches throughout our region will continue to be polluted.

With the increased consciousness caused by the drought, now is the time for some bold moves. We call on the state legislature to move a water bond that prioritizes investments in local water, including stormwater capture, water recycling, and groundwater cleanup. While they are at it, California lawmakers need to pass reforms that enable municipalities to more easily raise fees for stormwater cleanup. Why should stormwater projects have a higher bar than water supply or refuse pickup? At the local level, we call on our political leaders to prioritize funding for local water, either as stand-alone or part of other infrastructure measures. Potholes may be an annoyance, but water is literally life and death. And at the community level, we encourage everyone to do their part by conserving potable water and capturing stormwater through rain barrels and rain gardens. Become informed about where your water comes from.

It’s an exciting time to be working on water in our region. Join us and be a part of the future of Los Angeles.