Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Keeping Watch for Clean Water

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Honoring Local Impacts of the Clean Water Act on the 50th Anniversary

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Clean water is central to our identity and way of life on the South Coast. The health of our ocean—and the creeks, rivers, wetlands, and watersheds that flow into it—directly affects our community’s health and happiness, our economy, and the ecological richness that makes this place so unique.

This month, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which has played an important role in improving the water quality of the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds, as well as waterways across the nation.

Before the Clean Water Act, only one-third of America’s waterways were considered clean enough to be fishable or swimmable. Many of our nation’s waters were contaminated by sewage, oil, trash, industrial pollution, and agricultural runoff.  Rivers in some areas were so polluted that they caught on fire. In response to public outcry, in October of 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act to address water quality issues by regulating the amount of pollutants discharged into our natural water systems and establishing national standards for water quality.

The Clean Water Act represented a milestone in our nation’s environmental history. It took significant steps to stop dumping raw sewage and untreated industrial waste into our waters. It set a goal to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters for the use and benefit of everyone. It also gave every person the right to enforce the law when the government fails to protect clean water. 

Since then, Channelkeeper and other Waterkeepers across the United States have used the Clean Water Act to stop pollution, to prevent habitat destruction, and to set water quality standards that ensure our waterways are healthy for both wildlife and people to use and enjoy.

In fact, the Clean Water Act forms the backbone of Channelkeeper’s work. In 1999, Santa Barbara County had the highest number of public health warnings for poor water quality of any coastal county in California. Since then, Channelkeeper has leveraged the Clean Water Act to improve water quality along the South Coast by motivating polluters like Halaco Engineering Co., the Ojai Quarry, and Southern California Edison to clean up their operations. We have also used the Clean Water Act framework to effect policy changes to better protect our community from sewage overflows, industrial pollution, and agricultural discharges.

There is still work to be done to defend our community’s right to clean water and healthy habitats, but we hope you’ll join us in honoring the 50th anniversary of a law that has improved the health and safety of the ocean, creeks, wetlands, and rivers that we love and continues to help keep our waterways, wildlife, and community vibrant.

Why Flowing Water in the Ventura River is Worth Fighting For

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[En Español]

Water is the lifeblood of coastal California. It supplies drinking water for communities, fuels agricultural production, and sustains waterways and the species that depend on them. However, creeks, streams, and rivers along our coast are drying up more due to increasing pressures from climate change, expanded urban development, and irrigated agricultural lands. California’s waterways are indicators. As they dry up, entire downstream ecosystems collapse, and these dusty streambeds alert us to a lack of sustainable management.

Why should we be concerned the Ventura River is being pumped dry?

We rely on the Ventura River as a primary source of drinking water. The Ventura River and its groundwater basins provide all of the water used in the Ojai Basin and the Ventura River valley. When the river goes dry, it indicates that water usage is not sustainable and that we are exceeding the capacity of our resources and living dangerously beyond our means as we face a more arid future.

Wildlife suffers when waterways like the Ventura River go dry. Streams, creeks, and rivers are hotspots for freshwater biodiversity, providing habitat for birds, insects, fish, amphibians, invertebrates, and mammals. Aquatic organisms rely on water for their oxygen. Reduced flows and rising water temperatures decrease dissolved oxygen levels and can result in wildlife asphyxiation. Ultimately, as flows stop, entire ecosystems collapse and once vital streambeds become silent.

The Ventura River provides essential access to nature for hundreds of community members each week. If you visit Foster Park or any of the Ventura River’s swimming holes and picnic areas on a weekend, you’ll see entire families splashing and enjoying time outdoors together and people of all ages and ethnicities exploring the wilderness in their own backyard. The Ventura River’s flowing waters are a valuable public resource that provide recreational opportunities and a place for every member of our community to connect with nature.

When flows cease, histories evaporate. The Ventura River was a source of life and abundance to the indigenous people who lived, hunted, and gathered along its banks and it remains a sacred landmark to the Chumash community today. Keeping the river alive preserves important narratives.

When the creeks, streams, and rivers in our backyard are pumped dry, it means that our resources are not being managed responsibly. Channelkeeper continues to speak on the Ventura River’s behalf and leverage the law to demand sustainable management of our water resources. There is enough water to satisfy the needs of people and sustain nature if managed sustainably. By protecting vital water resources, we can ensure water security for wildlife and people for generations to come.

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper has advocated on the Ventura River’s behalf for over twenty years to stop the City of Ventura from pumping it dry and establish flow thresholds to ensure the river’s health and ecological richness.

Take Your Plastic Advocacy to the Next Level

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The news headlines about plastic are grim. A dead whale with 33 pounds of plastic in its stomach; a seal with a frisbee stuck around its neck; microplastics found in the meat and milk we consume. Each of us feels the weight of the plastic crisis and wants to take action. We’ve said no to plastic packaging and found plastic-free alternatives to common household items. But what can we do beyond recycling and limiting our own dependence on single-use plastics? How do we level up our individual actions? We’ve outlined a few ways to channel your positive energy into effective plastic-fighting advocacy campaigns that build upon your everyday efforts.

Have a conversation

A meaningful conversation can be an effective way to promote plastic reduction efforts in your area. Do you like a particular product or store, but you wish they would reduce or eliminate their use of plastic? Take a moment to ask the business to consider reducing their packaging or switching to a reusable alternative. Talk, call, or send an email. Businesses may be resistant at first, but if they hear the same request from multiple customers, they may consider making some changes.

Spread Awareness While You Scroll

Digital platforms can be an effective way to advance plastic-reduction messaging. You’re likely on social media anyway, so pour a cup of tea and commit half an hour to liking and sharing plastic-related posts, articles, and videos that will have a positive ripple effect. Today, brands are sensitive about how they are perceived online, an awareness you can leverage to help create change.

  • Make it personal. Write a sentence or two to personalize a post when you share or reshare.
  • Tag people and businesses that you think may be interested.
  • Use hashtags to broaden your reach.

Write a Letter to the Editor of Your Local Paper

Formulate a concise, fact-based letter that outlines your concerns about plastic and makes the issue personal and directly related to your community. Explain how readers in your area will be affected by the plastic crisis. Invite decision-makers to take action.

Engage in the Civic Process

Vote, Vote, Vote. Local elections have far-reaching effects. Support politicians who will prioritize the environment. Call or email your state representatives to voice your support for single-use plastic reduction policies or attend a city council or regional government meeting to make a public statement.

Monitoring Plankton to Protect Wildlife, People, and Ocean Health

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Did you know that one teaspoon of ocean water can contain over a million living creatures called plankton?  These microscopic plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) drift with the ocean’s currents and play a fundamental role in many ocean systems. Plankton are tiny yet vital organisms.

Phytoplankton form the base of the ocean food web. Small marine creatures like zooplankton, crustaceans, and small fish eat phytoplankton and are in turn consumed by whales, squid, and larger fish, which become food for top ocean predators like sharks.

Phytoplankton concentration is influenced by several factors, including light availability, temperature, and nutrients.

Phytoplankton produce their own nourishment using the energy of the sun in a process called photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, phytoplankton release oxygen into the water as a byproduct. Scientists estimate that about 50% of the world’s oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis.

Phytoplankton are also responsible for most of the transfer of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the ocean. During photosynthesis, they consume carbon dioxide and later release it through respiration or as biomass when they die and sink to the bottom of the ocean.

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Why Monitor Plankton?

Channelkeeper conducts plankton tows to help monitor algal blooms in the Santa Barbara Channel. When environmental conditions in ocean water change, sometimes caused by an overabundance of nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus from fertilizer runoff, sewage treatment plants, and other land-based sources, phytoplankton populations can grow rapidly. This is called a “bloom.” Some blooms only result in a change of the water’s color (like the coccolithophore bloom that made the ocean look milky blue in Santa Barbara a few years ago), while others can be harmful, depleting oxygen in the water, blocking sunlight, or secreting toxins. Harmful algae blooms, some of which are known as red tides due to their reddish-brown color, can sicken and kill marine wildlife and negatively affect humans who are exposed to them.

While out on our boat conducting MPA Watch surveys, our team collects samples which we send to the California Department of Health. We do this in an effort to better understand harmful algae blooms and to protect both people and wildlife from their effects.

Tiny Creatures Provide Big Insight

Monitoring plankton populations is also key to assessing the health of the marine environment. Around the world, plankton are used as indicators of the health of water due to their short life span and sensitivity to both short-term and long-term environmental changes. Studying plankton helps scientists understand many things about the ocean, such as changes in fish populations, pollution, and climate. Learning about these tiny yet vital creatures can help us better understand important ocean systems and more effectively protect wildlife and the environment.

A Snapshot of the Planktonic Community

A plankton tow is a way to collect a sample of marine microorganisms. This snapshot of the planktonic community reveals what plankton populations are flourishing, any imbalances, and can provide clues about water quality.

From the deck of our boat, the R/V Channelkeeper, our team submerges a fine-meshed net with a jar at one end to collect the plankton sample. We send it down 30 feet in the water column and pull it back up using a rope. This is called a vertical tow (as opposed to pulling the net horizontally through the water). The net is sunk and raised three times. Then, we pour the liquid trapped in the jar into a fresh bottle containing a small amount of preservative. We place the bottles in postmarked boxes and mail them to the California Department of Public Health for lab analysis. These samples are analyzed for toxin-producing species, and they reveal trends in phytoplankton distribution along the coast.

What We Sometimes Find

Diatoms
These microscopic phytoplankton plankton are a food source for zooplankton. Diatoms have cell walls made of silica and many form long chains of cells.

Coccolithophorids
Large blooms of these phytoplankton create milky white areas in the ocean that are visible from space thanks to the calcium carbonate plates that make up their cell walls.

Copepod
Considered the most numerous multicellular animals on earth, these tiny crustaceans are a food source for many other zooplankton and fish.

Krill
These zooplankton are important source of food for many marine mammals and seabirds.  They are an important part of the food web.

Meroplankton
The larvae of many bottom-dwelling invertebrates like crabs, starfish, mussels, clams, and lobsters all begin as larvae in the plankton before they settle on the bottom and become the more familiar adult creatures. These organisms are called meroplankton, because they only spend part of their lives among plankton, as opposed to holoplankton, or organisms that spend their entire lives as plankton. 

Pteropod
These gelatinous zooplankton are relatives of snails. Pteropods feed using a mucous web that they trap food particles with.

Threats to Plankton


Ocean acidification poses a significant threat to phytoplankton. When excess carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur that result in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. This increase causes seawater to become more acidic and causes carbonate ions to be less abundant. These carbonate ions are essential for calcifying organisms to build and maintain their shells, skeletons, and other structures. Scientists speculate that a more acidic ocean will cause some types of plankton to grow slower and others to grow faster, changing the balance and affecting the food web.

Plankton are also threatened by plastic pollution and microplastics billions of tiny bits of plastic, less than five millimeters in size. Plastics float, block sunlight, and do not degrade. By blocking sunlight, plastics disrupt phytoplankton’s ability to produce energy through photosynthesis, causing them to die off. Zooplankton can also consume microplastics and die from blockages in their digestive tracts. Because they are a primary food source for many marine creatures, when plankton populations diminish, many other species are affected throughout the ocean food web.

Connecting Kids with Nature to Spark Wonder and Inspire Environmental Sensitivity

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If you’ve ever followed a hermit crab’s footprints across a tidepool, built a fort in the wilderness, or listened closely to a bird’s song, you understand the sense of wonder and quiet joy that activities in the wild can inspire. For kids, the natural world can be a place of curiosity, creative play, and discovery. 

A growing number of studies suggest that connection with nature has significant physical, psychological, and academic benefits for kids. Time in the wild can also inspire greater sensitivity to the surrounding world, a deeper understanding of environmental issues, and real-life opportunities to practice problem-solving. 

Channelkeeper’s education programs aim to nurture environmental awareness and stewardship in young people with the understanding that today’s youth are the decision-makers of tomorrow. Their environmental ethics are critical to our planet’s future. By fostering a connection between young people and the natural world, we hope to inspire the next generation of clean water leaders. 

To extend our discovery-driven curriculum beyond field trips and classroom visits, we’ve gathered a few fun, hands-on educational activities for young explorers and families to experience together. Learn about how water moves through a watershed and the ways in which it can become contaminated. Discover the fluid dynamics of the water cycle. In addition, we’ve included some special places to explore with activities such as rock hopping in Mission Creek at Rocky Nook Park, tidepooling at Coal Oil Point, bird watching at the Goleta Slough, and reading inspiring stories in the shade of a tree.

We hope that you share these activities with a special child in your life and enjoy a moment in nature together.

Activities:

Make a Watershed 

Have you ever wondered where water goes when it rains? In this simple activity you can make a model watershed and watch how the water flows over the land.

  • Crumple up a piece of plain office paper and then smooth it back out most of the way- it should remain a bit crumpled, showing small ridges (high points) and valleys (low points). 
  • Imagine that this paper is a section of land. Find the ridgelines (the tops of the fold-lines). 
  • Use a washable blue marker (not permanent) to color along the ridgelines on your land. The blue color from the marker will help you follow the path of the precipitation.
  • Use a spray bottle of water to create a rainstorm over your land. The goal is to create gentle sprays of mist. 
  • Spray the bottle once, and observe the precipitation. Has the water begun to move in your watershed? If not, then lightly mist again, until the precipitation starts traveling on your watershed. 
  • As your rainfall accumulates, observe the pathways where the excess rainfall travels.

Explore your watershed. With your finger, trace your stream (the path of the blue marker) all the way back up to where it starts at the top of the ridge. When you reach the top, this is the edge of the watershed for your stream and lake. Trace the entire edge of the watershed with your finger by following the ridgeline.  Everything inside, the downward-sloping area you have just outlined is the watershed for your stream or lake.

Find the Solution to Pollution 

  • Gather up 4-5 clean glass jars, masking tape, paper coffee filters, and a magnifying glass. 
  • Collect water from different sources including tap water, a creek or lake, or even the ocean making sure to label each jar with the water source.
  • Fit the coffee filters just inside the mouths of additional large, wide-mouthed jars. 
  • Take one of the water samples, and slowly pour the water through the filter into the other jar. Repeat for each water sample, pouring it into a new jar with a fresh coffee filter. 
  • Open each filter and examine it through the magnifying glass. 
  • Analyze the filters. Which filter is the most discolored? Which filter caught the most particles? Did any of the samples leave a colored residue on the filter? 
  • Discuss how the water in creeks, rivers, and the ocean can become polluted. Where do pollutants come from? 
  • A major cause of water pollution in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties is nonpoint source pollution, or contamination that comes from more than one source. As water runoff moves over land, it picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants into our creeks and rivers, which eventually drain into the ocean. What steps can we take to reduce water pollution in our area?

Create a Water Cycle Model

  • Use a permanent marker to draw the water cycle on a Ziplock bag (if possible, reuse a plastic bag for this activity). You can create your own interpretation of water collection, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation or follow this easy video.
  • Pour about ⅓ cup of water into the bag. You can add one or two drops of blue food coloring to the water if you choose, but it’s not essential.
  • Find a sunny window and tape the bag to the glass.
  • Check in on the water cycle bag at different times throughout the next few days. Do you see water droplets form along the bag from the condensation? Eventually, you may see streaks along the side of the bag as the droplets grow and drop down the side, representing precipitation. From there, the water will recollect and pool at the bottom, mimicking the water cycle we experience on Earth.
  • Rinse out the plastic bag and reuse it for other household needs!

Outdoor Adventures:

Visit Mission Creek in Rocky Nook Park
Rocky Nook Park is not only free to visit, its creek area is a special place to connect with nature. Practice your rock hopping skills and get to know Mission Creek’s pools while looking for tadpoles. How many different kinds of water bugs can you find? Pick up 5 pieces of trash to leave the park a little cleaner than you found it.

Low Tide Beach Walk
Check the tides and head to the beach to explore during low tide! How many creatures can you count? Can you find the wrack line, the horizontal line on the beach where kelp, driftwood, and insects collect? This accumulation area plays an important role in beach ecology. How many hermit crabs can you find in a tidepool? Can you find a sea star? Their populations are just starting to recover following a wasting disease. Be sure to leave them on the rock where you observed them! Check for low tides at Tide Predictions – NOAA Tides & Currents

Some of our favorite tidepools to explore include Tarpits Beach in Carpinteria, Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara, and in the Campus Point Marine Protected Area at Coal Oil Point in Isla Vista.

Watch the Birds
We’re so lucky! The Santa Barbara area has so many great opportunities to observe birds, including many species that pass through seasonally. Have you ever spotted a red tail hawk? How about a snowy egret? We challenge you to find your favorite bird! What sort of habitat does it prefer? What does it like to eat? What sounds does it make?

Visit the Goleta Slough, Lake Los Carneros, and Santa Barbara Bird Refuge for some excellent birding and check out the free ebird app for help with bird identification and cool facts!

Read books outside!

Have you ever read a book with your feet in a creek? How about under a tree? Borrow a few books from your local library or find them online and head outdoors! Some of our favorites include:

  • Once Upon a Watershed by Dianne Bennett
  • The Big Book of the Blue by Yuval Zommer
  • Deep in the Ocean by Lucie Brunelliere
  • All the Way to the Ocean by Joel Harper
  • The Little Creek that Could by Marc Angelo
  • The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
  • The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter
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