Ocean pollution grows worse when it rains.
Soon after a storm, rainfall begins to run downhill, sweeping streets and fields clean. Before long, debris full of bacteria from pet wastes, horse corrals, trash, and other sources are washed down creeks... and into the ocean.
At the same time, rain washes fertilizers and pesticides from lawns and gardens, chemicals from construction sites, and oil and grease from roads and parking lots. They all flow into storm drains... which empty straight into the ocean.
Most people don't think of their yards, automobiles, and pets as sources of water pollution, but they often are. This edition of Issues explains more about these so-called non-point sources of pollution. It presents information about how Goleta Sanitary District protects public health and the ocean environment, and ways that individuals can reduce non-point source pollution caused by daily activities.
Goleta Sanitary District monitors
many separate locations:
at the surf zone, in the kelp line, farther off-shore, and even on the
ocean floor.
Goleta Sanitary District protects public health and the ocean environment through careful control of its discharge into the ocean. The District meets strict health and environmental standards, conducts thousands of water quality tests, and undertakes many other programs to prevent contamination from entering the sewer system in the first place, as described below.
Most bacteria are killed by our treatment process that includes disinfection. Numerous scientific studies undertaken by the District and others, demonstrate that Goleta Sanitary District's discharge has bacteria levels far lower than storm waters in local creeks.
District engineers have conducted extensive studies of the local ocean environment and taken over 10,000 measurements. All results of these extensive studies show that the treatment plant protects local ocean water quality.
Leaving nothing to chance, Goleta Sanitary monitors many aspects of the ocean environment: ocean bottom sediment, bottom fauna, fish, bio-accumulation of toxins in shellfish, and water quality.
Goleta Sanitary requires that some industrial and commercial customers remove hazardous substances by treating their own wastewaters before discharging into the District's sewers.
The District also holds workshops for contractors, plumbers, engineers, other industrial and professional groups, and classes for young people to teach them how to prevent wastewater contamination.
A WATERSHED IS an area THROUGH WHICH
ALL WATER, WHETHER FROM RAINFALL, CREEKS, OR IRRIGATION, DRAINS TO A COMMON
PLACE, such as the ocean.
All water in the Goleta area - whether from rainfall, creeks, irrigation, or storm drains - eventually flows to the ocean. Any area, such as the Goleta Valley, which gathers all water sources and drains to the ocean is called a watershed. Past efforts to limit pollution in watersheds focused on specific point-sources such as wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities. But after years of strict regulation and installation of advanced treatment systems and controls, point-sources discharge very clean water.
Even the highest bacteria levels measured
near the Goleta Sanitary District ocean discharge pipeline (one mile offshore)
easily meet the State standard for swimming. But bacteria levels in local
creeks can be 50 times above the State standard for swimming.
Today, the largest source of water contamination is from a variety of
common household and business sources, such as lawns containing fertilizers
and pesticides, animal and pet wastes containing bacteria, and oils and
metals from automotive use.
As water flows across the local watershed, it washes contaminants into
local creeks along the way, and carries them to sea. After rainstorms,
bacteria levels in creeks can be 50 times greater than the State standard
for swimming water. By comparison, such bacteria are generally not even
detectable in the treated ocean discharge of the Goleta Sanitary District
wastewater treatment plant.
Storm drains collect rain and other waters from streets and landscapes and dump them straight into the ocean with no treatment at all. By contrast, your household wastewater flows through sanitary sewers to the Goleta Sanitary District treatment plant, where it is safely cleaned and disinfected before being discharged into the ocean.
By following the guidelines below,
you can help prevent non-point source pollution
from entering creeks, storm drains, and the sea.
AT HOME :
VEHICLES AND BUSINESSES :
CALL FOR HELP?
DEAR NEIGHBOR
Goleta Sanitary District has successfully protected public health and the environment by properly collecting and treating wastewater generated in the Goleta Valley. This newsletter focuses attention on an environmental issue of growing concern; the problem of non-point source water pollution.
Non-point source pollution is from common household and business materials such as fertilizers, spilled motor oil, cleaners, and animal droppings, which are washed into storm drains and creeks, and eventually flow to the sea.
These seemingly small and scattered sources of pollution add up to be a significant problem. For example, in just a few minutes during a rainstorm, more bacteria can flow from a single local creek than is discharged from our wastewater treatment plant in an entire year. Surprisingly, non-point source pollution is by far the biggest source of contamination entering local creeks and the ocean.
By contrast, years of increasing regulation and construction of advanced facilities have made most specific point-sources, such as the wastewater treatment plant, clean and safe for the environment.
The information in this bulletin is provided to increase public awareness of non-point source pollution. Goleta Sanitary District encourages efforts by all members of the community: businesses, government agencies, and individuals to participate in resolving this community environmental challenge.
THE GOVERNING BOARD of GOLETA SANITARY DISTRICT