One More Year of Testing…Coming Up.

For the past couple of years, the water testing that helps keep people safe from polluted water has been in serious jeopardy.  Monitoring agencies and dischargers all up and down the coast of California used to get state funds to test ocean water for bacteria. Heal the Bay takes the results of those tests and creates the Beach Report Card, translating hardcore science into usable information.  But in 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the $1 Million in state funding, leaving agencies with no way to pay for monitoring.  They pieced together funding for the last couple years, but it was set to run out on Jan. 1, 2011.  Now, in good news for all the swimmers and surfers out there, the State Water Board just voted to continue funding the program for another year. That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet, it just means we have one more year to find a permanent funding source before beach bacteria monitoring, and the Beach Report Card, disappear. Read more in this article from the LA Times.  http://lat.ms/c3lf12