water quality

Channelkeeper Seeks Answers in the Wake of Goleta Slough and Beach Sewage Spill

March 13, 2024 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

More than 1 million gallons of untreated sewage spilled from a 24-inch forcemain pipe maintained by Goleta West Sanitary District on February 16 and 17, polluting the Goleta Slough and nearby beaches.

This is the largest spill reported in Santa Barbara County in the past decade. In fact, it is more than 100 times greater than the next largest spill on record—two separate 9,000-gallon spills that affected Cieneguitas and Mission Creeks in the winter of 2023.

Santa Barbara County Public Health Officials have advised that the area from 1 mile east to ½-mile west of the Goleta Slough outfall will remain closed until water testing indicates that it is safe for the public. The area has been posted with signs warning the public to avoid contact with the water because sewage-contaminated water increases the risk for certain types of illnesses. Community members can find updated water quality testing data here on the County on Santa Barbara County’s ocean monitoring web page.

Channelkeeper is alarmed by the massive volume of this spill and shares the community’s concern about the public health impacts to beachgoers and the impacts to the fish, wildlife, and habitats of the Goleta Slough and surrounding ocean ecosystem. We are also interested to learn more about what caused the spill, the breakdown in communications related to the spill, and the delayed public notification of the spill and beach closures.

Goleta West Sanitary District (Goleta West) submitted its initial report to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) on March 1. It will submit a follow-up technical report about the spill and response by April 4.

On March 4, the Regional Water Board issued a Notice of Violation to Goleta West about the alleged violations to clean water regulations stemming from the spill. The Regional Board is investigating the spill and response.

The spill was caused by a small crack in a 24-inch force main pipe operated by Goleta West. It began on the evening of February 16, was discovered at 8:30 am on Saturday, February 17, and stopped shortly thereafter. We have heard reports that the pipe was significantly corroded with thin walls. Channelkeeper is interested to learn more about the condition of the pipes, results of recent pipe inspections, and why a significant reduction in normal sewage flow through the system wasn’t observed sooner.

A breakdown in critical communications took place among state, county, and local agencies. First, it isn’t clear what was officially reported as the initial estimate of the spill – either 1,000 gallons or 30,000 gallons. However, several days later, the spill was estimated to be 500,000 gallons. On the following day, the total increased to 1 million gallons. We are troubled that the early underestimation of the sewage spill delayed the involvement of other agencies responsible for ocean water testing, beach closures, and wildlife surveys.

Second, it took five days from the start of the sewage spill for the public health agency to become aware of it and then an additional day to close local beaches. This breakdown in communications is unacceptable. Channelkeeper is forwarding ideas for providing prompt and accessible public information about sewage spills and beach closures.

Since the spill, Channelkeeper has attended and provided public comments before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, Goleta West Sanitary District, Goleta Sanitary District, and Goleta City Council. We have also raised our concerns with representatives of the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards. We will continue to monitor public meetings and the ongoing investigation. We will continue to work collaboratively with community leaders who share our concerns. We have and will be offering recommendations to put in place preventive measures that our community and public agencies can take to better ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.

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

September 30, 2022 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

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.

Holding Agricultural Polluters Accountable

September 29, 2021 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

The State Water Quality Control Board recently accepted our coalition’s request to review the rules regulating pollution from irrigated agriculture.

Fertile soils, abundant sunshine, and cool, coastal influence make Santa Barbara County a prosperous agricultural region with 720,000 acres of farmland. While climate and soil characteristics in Santa Barbara County provide for optimal crop yields, pollution that results from agricultural runoff has detrimental impacts on the environment and the health of our community.

In California, irrigated agriculture is the number one source of pollution to rivers, streams, and groundwater supplies. Despite this fact, discharges from irrigated agriculture are not regulated by the Federal Clean Water Act. Agricultural pollution in Santa Barbara County is regulated by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board through a program previously known as the Ag Waiver. In April 2021, the Regional Board reviewed and approved Ag Order 4.0, the latest iteration of the regional program that is supposed to protect our waterways from fertilizer and pesticide pollution.

California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA), Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Monterey Coastkeeper, and other allies have worked tirelessly for many years advocating for common-sense rules that would require the agricultural industry to protect both surface water and groundwater.

While the new Ag Order 4.0 rules are lacking in many ways, they also represent important advancements. For example, for the first time in history, fertilizer application limits were set in an effort to prevent overapplications of nitrogen. This is an important step toward addressing nitrate pollution problems.

Despite improvements, Ag Order 4.0 is significantly flawed. The Regional Water Board caved to political pressure from the industry to avoid collecting minimal site-specific water quality data so pollution can be traced to its source. Fertilizer application limits, while critically important, are set so high that only the most egregious applications are limited, and many water supplies will continue to degrade for decades to come. Additional loopholes and exemptions abound within the Order.

California Coastkeeper Alliance, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, and Monterey Coastkeeper are working to ensure agricultural practices on the Central and South Coasts are protective and lead to fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water in our creeks, rivers, and coastal areas.

First, we are working with other stakeholders and the Regional Board to make sure the existing rules of Ag Order 4.0 are implemented in a timely, fair, and effective manner.

Second, we successfully petitioned the State Water Quality Board to review Ag Order 4.0 and are demanding that it be improved. Specifically, we are advocating that the State Water Board:

Require water quality monitoring that allows the Regional Board to determine which farms are polluting so they can be held accountable for degrading our waterways.
Include timelines attached to enforceable, quantifiable milestones to ensure that farms make progress over a reasonable period of time and eventually meet water quality standards.
Establish and maintain healthy riparian zones to protect water quality and natural ecosystems.

Ultimately, the duty of the Water Boards is to protect and restore water quality for today and generations to come, not to protect corporate agriculture. We will defend the modest improvements proposed by the Central Coast Regional Board and continue to fight for stronger rules that will fully protect our shared water resources.

For more detail, see CCKA’s Principles to Protect Californians and Our Waterways from Unsustainable Ag, available here.