Heal the Bay Blog

Category: About Us

The Fight for Clean Water Is On

05.04.2012 | Heal the Bay

May 4, 2012

Heal the Bay’s campaign to “Take L.A. By Storm” got off to a great start yesterday, with concerned citizens telling the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control board to set strong pollution limits as it debates a new stormwater permit for Los Angeles County this summer.

At the so-called MS4 workshop, Regional Board members heard public testimony about TMDLs (pollution limits), Receiving Water Limits and Watershed Management Plans for the first time in the regulatory process. These are arguably the most important sections of the permit. Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and Natural Resources Defense Council reminded the Board of its charge to develop and enforce water quality standards, noted the lack of enforcement for TMDL deadlines long overdue and described key permit provisions.

Stakeholders from the Black Surfing Association, Surfrider Foundation and Ventura Coastkeeper expressed their concerns with lax sections of the draft permit. Also members of the public from many parts of L.A., including Compton, Pico Union, West Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley and Santa Monica, talked about the need for strong regulation. Due to the great public turnout at yesterday’s MS4 workshop, the Regional Board heard from a diverse set of ocean lovers that strong water quality protections are critical for Angelenos.

Stay tuned for the next “Take L.A. By Storm” action.

Our Regional Board can do the right thing and place strong protections (such as low impact development requirements) in the permit. Or, they can make decisions that could result in dirtier water, and a higher risk of getting sick anytime you swim or surf. Heal the Bay will do everything we can to ensure that they make the right choice. We hope you will join us in the fight!

Learn more about this critical effort to protect clean water in L.A. County.

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L.A. Moves Forward on Bag Ban

04.04.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

Today the Los Angeles City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee took a bold step towards a double-ban on single-use plastic and paper bags. The Committee’s unanimous recommendation, led by Councilmember Paul Kortez, would require a phased, three-step approach: for the first six months a ban would be enacted for plastic bags only, then for the following six months a 10 cent charge would be placed on paper bags and finally, after 12 months, there would be an outright ban on both single-use plastic and paper bags.

Testimony from the city’s Board of Public Works helped to debunk claims from bag manufacturers that the ban would create job losses. If enacted, L.A.’s ban would be one of the most-far reaching measures in the nation.

This decision should embolden other cities, counties and states nationwide to take action. The Committee’s move highlights that the time has come to eliminate plastic pollution at its source in order to protect our environment and economy. The progress made today is very gratifying for Heal the Bay, as we have been leading the charge in Southern California to rid our neighborhoods, rivers, beaches and ocean of plastic trash for over two decades.

The full City Council is expected to vote on this measure in the next two weeks. After the policy direction passes the full Council, the city will need to conduct an environmental review.

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L.A. Times Supports Bag Ban

04.04.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey News Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

Heal the Bay has been leading the fight to end the fiscal and environmental waste created by single-use shopping bags for five years. So we were heartened today to see the Los Angeles Times’ editorial board urging the Los Angeles City Council to adopt its long-gestating ban. An excerpt is printed below:

L.A.’s delay in banning single-use, carry-out plastic bags has put it behind dozens of other municipalities in the state. With a recycling rate of only 5%, the bags are an environmental menace that we can easily do without.

When the city of Los Angeles held off three years ago on banning single-use, carry-out plastic bags, it missed a chance to be at the forefront of environmentally responsible lawmaking in California. By the time it inexplicably delayed a vote again in December, close to 20 cities as well as Los Angeles County had prohibited stores from providing the bags. And since then, the bags have been banned in more than two dozen additional municipalities in the state.

More important, in the last three years tens of millions of plastic carry-out bags — possibly hundreds of millions — have been distributed in Los Angeles. Statewide, only about 5% of them are generally recycled. They snag on trees and bushes in the wilderness and are washed down waterways to the ocean. They are the second most common trash item found on beaches, and contribute to the giant floating garbage patch in the Pacific.

The City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee should waste no more time. It should approve a ban for the full council to consider.

What's in an Acronym?

03.30.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

Today’s blogger is Kirsten James, Heal the Bay’s water quality director.

All too often when I mention the topic of TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads), people’s eyes start to glaze over. What’s a TMDL you ask? It’s a calculation of the maximum amount of pollution that a waterbody (river, lake or the ocean) can handle before it can no longer meet its beneficial uses (i.e. habitat and recreation). Yawn, yawn – I know.

I swear though, TMDLs are actually very interesting. By developing and implementing TMDLs, water quality improves. In fact, TMDLs are arguably the most useful tool in the Clean Water Act toolbox environmental groups like ours have to actually clean up Southern California’s coastal waters and watersheds.

The Los Angeles Region has led the way nationwide in developing TMDLs. Thirteen years ago Heal the Bay, NRDC and Santa Monica Baykeeper entered into a settlement agreement with USEPA to develop a specified number of TMDLs over the 13 year period. Before that time, we hadn’t seen any quantitative or enforceable limits developed. This month marks the end of this consent decree. As a result of this effort, 47 TMDLs have been established for 175 water bodies that address numerous pollutant impairments including elevated bacteria, metals, pesticides, PCBs and trash. But most importantly, as a result of these TMDLs, our creeks and beaches are cleaner.

We still have a long way to go – many of the TMDLs will be implemented for years to come and Heal the Bay will continue to push the Regional Water Quality Control Board to ensure that the necessary TMDLs are enforced. But it is gratifying to look back over the past 13 years and see that our hard work and the efforts of many other stakeholders has paid off.

Learn more about TMDLs.

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Brainstorming a More Beautiful Bay

03.26.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

Today’s blogger is Susie Santilena, an environmental engineer in water quality at Heal the Bay.

When I stepped into the Dockweiler youth center meeting room, it was one of those sunny winter Southern California days that make the rest of the country jealous this time of the year. The room had a great view of the beach and sparkling blue ocean outside — the perfect setting for the meeting I was attending, which was all about the direction of Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission (the organization charged with restoring the very Bay at which I was gawking). The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission (SMBRC) is a state organization with the mission to restore and enhance the Santa Monica Bay through actions and partnerships that improve water quality, conserve and rehabilitate natural resources, and to protect the Bay’s benefits and values. Heal the Bay sits on a number of its subcommittees, including the Watershed Advisory Council (WAC).

Each year, the SMBRC holds a meeting of their Watershed Advisory Committee to brainstorm on next steps for implementing their Bay Restoration Plan. This plan is important because it is the de facto road map to guide the SMBRC in restoring the Bay. A wide variety of stakeholders sit on the WAC, and come to this annual meeting with hopes of getting their priority issues incorporated into the Plan.

Not all of the SMBRC’s stakeholders see eye-to-eye on all of the issues discussed. Heal the Bay’s goal in participating in this council is to encourage the SMBRC to focus its efforts on projects that will gather data and lead to the strongest protection of water quality and coastal resources in the Santa Monica Bay as possible. For instance, we speak in support of the SMBRC’s efforts to restore wetland habitats and efforts to facilitate bay-wide habitat monitoring.

After a lively public comment session and an update on the progress the SMBRC was making on its current restoration plan, we broke into groups to brainstorm on the SMBRC’s plan for the next year. We counted off from one to three, each number putting individuals into a random group with the others who counted off the same number. I ended up in a group with an official from Malibu, an officer of the County lifeguards, an ocean monitoring specialist from a large, public-owned sanitation organization, a member of a local community group and a monitoring researcher at a municipal water district that discharges to Malibu Creek (which has previously been pegged as the largest single contributor to nutrient impairments in the Creek). It was quite an eclectic group, and I was anxious to see how the brainstorming session would go.

While the stakeholders in our group had MAJOR differences of opinion when it came some things, such as the contribution (read scapegoating) of natural sources to pollution, everyone was respectful of each other’s perspective, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were some issues on which we were able to find common ground. The need for increased water conservation and reuse was a big one, as well as the need for reliable funding sources for monitoring efforts in the Malibu Creek Watershed. Despite our different perspectives, we all agreed that these should be priorities for the SMBRC in the coming year.

Maybe the beautiful weather and ocean scene outside left me overly optimistic, but I’m hopeful that the ideas we developed at the WAC’s brainstorming session will help take us one step closer to restoring the Bay.

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L.A.'s Plastic Bag Ban Upheld

03.23.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Beach Report Card Spanish News

At a hearing today, Judge James Chalfant upheld L.A. County’s plastic bag ordinance.

The Court found that the County’s proposed 10-cent paper bag charge was not a tax under the California Constitution because retailers keep all of the money collected pursuant to the ordinance, and even if the charge were a tax, it would be considered exempt to Prop 26.

While an appeal is expected, this decision is encouraging for California cities moving forward with their own plastic bag ordinances.

Marking 40 Years of the Clean Water Act

03.20.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Beach Report Card Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

2012 is the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the nation’s law for protecting our most irreplaceable resource.

This year EPA and others will highlight the tremendous progress in reducing pollution since 1972, the many milestones along the way, the ways that the job is far from over and the tough challenges we face today and in the future. To mark 40 Years of the Clean Water Act, the EPA has set up a central location for information, activities, news and networking at www.epa.gov/cleanwater40.

You can also find the Office of Water on Facebook.

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Vols Sought to Survey MPA Sanctuaries

03.16.2012 | Matt King

About Us Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marine Protected Areas Palos Verdes Peninsula

Who wouldn’t want a job that involves strolling along some of the most beautiful beaches in L.A.? It’s not a paid gig, but you get to help protect what you love – the ocean! Heal the Bay is now training volunteers to help monitor our new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Point Dume and Palos Verdes. Volunteers collect observational data on coastal uses in MPAs; data which is then used by the California Department of Fish & Game to help with management and compliance.

“Our volunteer citizen scientists come from varied backgrounds – from social workers to students – but all our volunteers have one thing in common: a passion for the sea,” says Dana Roeber Murray, Heal the Bay’s coastal scientist. Dana started the MPA Watch program in early 2011 to train local citizens on MPA monitoring and has trained over 60 volunteers to date.

“It took years of collaboration with scientists, fishermen, government, and other non-profits to see these protected areas enacted,” Dana says. “We worked hard up and down the state to make it happen. So it’s been very gratifying to see the public embracing MPAs and volunteering their time to help monitor their effectiveness.”

MPA Watch volunteers commit to attending one classroom and one field training to become citizen scientists, then go on to survey the coast at least four times a month. Heal the Bay also offers MPA Watch summer internship opportunities for people eager to get more deeply involved with Heal the Bay’s Science and Policy department. For more information, check out our MPA Watch FAQs or contact Dana.

Trainings are only offered a few times a year, so reserve your spot and sign up now.

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On Our Radar: Earth Day 2012

03.13.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Beach Report Card Malibu / Pacific Palisades Santa Monica

View all Earth Month events and updates

Heal the Bay celebrates each Earth Day in a big way — by turning it into a whole month. For the entire month of April, we ensure that “Earth Day is every day.” Our month is chock-full of great events for all ages — cleanups, tablings and more. We welcome volunteers to join us in April to get their hands dirty, meet a few new friends in the community and learn all about the Santa Monica Bay at our Aquarium.

To check out our upcoming opportunities, download our Earth Month flyer:

Volunteer Orientation – April 9

When: Monday April 9, 7 – 9 p.m.

Where: Heal the Bay Main Office, Large Conference Room, 1444 9th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Get started by attending one of our monthly Volunteer Orientations. Learn more about Heal the Bay, our mission, and the many ways that you can get involved. Orientation is an important first step (and required for some volunteer programs).

Malibu Creek State Park Restoration – April 14

When: April 14, 8:45 a.m. to Noon

Where: Malibu Creek State Park, 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas

Join Heal the Bay and the Mountains Restoration Trust to restore areas of Malibu Creek State Park.

Nothin’ But Sand – April 21

When: April 21, 10 a.m. to Noon

Where: Santa Monica Beach, 2600 Barnard Way (at the end of Ocean Park, Tower 27)

Volunteer for a beach cleanup!

Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanups sponsored by:

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Earth Month Celebration – April 21 & 22

When: April 21-22, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. both days

Where: Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, 1600 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica, CA 90401
($5 admission/$3 minimum suggested donation, children 12 & under free)

Enjoy special Earth Day activities and family fun and free admission to everyone who cleans the beach that weekend.

Earth Day Cleanup – April 22

When: April 22, 9 – 10:45 a.m.

Where: Surfrider Beach and Malibu Lagoon, 23050 Pacific Coast Highway, parking lot #23500.

Join Heal the Bay and the City of Malibu for a joint beach and kayak cleanup

WIP FLASH – April 27

When: Friday April 27, 6 – 10 p.m.

Where: Broadway Art Space 929 Broadway Santa Monica, CA 90402

WIP FLASH is a MOPLA (Month of Photography L.A) event featuring Women In Photography.

The WIP FLASH exhibition “First Nature” is in Santa Monica for one night only. The exhibition will start at 6 p.m. for Heal the Bay members with a private, VIP reception. The exhibition will open to the public at 7 p.m.

Enjoy complimentary drinks and cocktails. Valet service available.

WIP FLASH will donate 20% of photography sales proceeds to benefit Heal the Bay.

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Ms. James Goes to Washington

02.24.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Long Beach / Avalon

Today’s guest blogger is Kirsten James, Heal the Bay’s water quality director.

Last week I had the unique opportunity to look beyond Santa Monica Bay, California and the nation and learn about water resource issues in Latin America. Focusing outside Heal the Bay’s traditional geographic reach provided great perspective on water quality challenges and solutions around the world.

I was invited to participate in a World Bank workshop held in Washington, D.C., focusing on litter management strategies and their application to integrated urban watershed management and drainage and flood protection investments. The World Bank hoped to draw upon the experiences of NGOs such as Heal the Bay and municipalities in dealing with litter management to inform future projects and investments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Specifically, the Bank wanted to learn from case studies on litter management in Long Beach and Washington, D.C.

During the first session, City of Long Beach Vice-Mayor Suja Lowenthal and I shared litter management strategies that have worked in Los Angeles County’s second-largest city. We shared the successes associated with the trash Total Maximum Daily Load or “TMDL” pollution limits, Low Impact Development (LID) ordinance, the single-use plastic bag ban, and educational programs among other strategies and policies. We then heard from Washington, D.C. staff and a local NGO dealing with similar issues on the opposite coast.

It was comforting to hear that they are using many of the same strategies and having successes (and challenges such as opposition from the plastics industry). The take-away for me was that we need to look beyond California more frequently to exchange lessons-learned on water resources issues.

Urban flooding in Colombia and Argentina

The next sessions were the most eye-opening. We heard from stakeholders in Barranquilla, Colombia and Buenos Aires, Argentina (via video conference and a translator) on the challenges they are facing with litter management. For these communities, trash abatement is much more than protecting marine life, improving aesthetics at the beach and reducing urban blight. For them it is about public health and safety, first and foremost. For example, the streets in Barranquilla are the drainage system and often act as the city’s trash dump! Before rain, residents often dump trash in these low lying areas so the water will “dispose” of the trash out to sea. The current solid waste collection system is inadequate. During every rain event, the city comes to a stop; all residents must clear the streets and low-lying areas for their own safety. The massive amounts of litter (mostly plastic) exacerbate flooding. Each year there are mortalities due to the extreme flooding.

With the help of World Bank investment, Barranquilla plans to construct an appropriate drainage infrastructure system, and at the same time explore other litter management strategies such as those that were discussed in the context of Long Beach and D.C. The World Bank currently has 28 lending- and grant-based projects in eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. This means that the World Bank has many opportunities to share the lessons-learned from the workshop to inform future litter management strategies. It is exciting that Heal the Bay’s local work in California is helping to inform policy in other parts of the world. Although developing nations have many more constraints to deal with than we do in the United States, we can all learn from one another.

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