Channelkeeper's advocacy and enforcement efforts aim to prevent the pollution of our local creeks, beaches, coastal waters and wetlands. We target the leading sources of pollution that threaten the health of our waterways, including storm water and urban runoff, sewage, agricultural operations, offshore oil drilling, and large municipal and industrial dischargers.

 

Channelkeeper serves as a water quality watchdog by utilizing our water quality monitoring efforts to support our advocacy and enforcement. We identify local pollution problems through our regular patrols of the Channel and its tributaries or by responding to citizen complaints, and conduct investigations to pinpoint the sources and devise solutions to clean them up. We alert the responsible parties and appropriate public agencies of pollution problems we identify, and advise and seek their cooperation to implement solutions. We take and process water samples in our in-house laboratory to determine the severity of polluted discharges, and use the results as evidence of the need for action.

 

We testify regularly before public agencies to urge them to strengthen and enforce existing laws or enact new ones to ensure that our waterways will be better protected. We also review and comment on local wastewater discharge permits to ensure that the requirements for treatment and monitoring are as stringent as possible. If these means of cooperation fail, we may turn to the courts as a last resort to compel polluters or government agencies to comply with or better enforce environmental laws.

 

Through our newsletters, press releases, reports and fact sheets, website, classroom education program, presentations at schools and community meetings, tabling at local events and other means, we seek to educate citizens, youth, businesses and public officials about practices that degrade water quality and engage them in solutions to reduce or eliminate these impacts. We also educate and involve the local community through our many volunteer programs.

 

Channelkeeper also works with many other groups, including other California Waterkeepers, the California Coastkeeper Alliance, Environmental Defense Center, Heal the Ocean and others to advocate for strict water quality laws and regulations at the state level.

 

 

Halaco

Santa Barbara Airport

Polo Fields

Agriculture

Greenhouses

Stormwater/Runoff

Sewage

Oil and Gas