Heal the Ocean gets grant to study sewage

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Heal the Ocean, a citizens action group based in Santa Barbara, received a $333,435 grant from the state to conduct a two-year study of the Montecito sewage outfall off Butterfly Beach.
UC Santa Barbara scientists conducting the study of the shallow-water outfall will examine whether the sewage plume is affecting beaches down the coast, including Hammonds Reef, a popular surf spot with a history of high bacteria counts.

“We’re really happy to see this happen,” Hillary Hauser, director of Heal the Ocean, told the Daily Sound. “We’ve been talking about this kind of thing for a long time.”
Toward the end of July, oceanographers Dr. Libe Washburn and Dr. Carter Ohlmann, along with microbiologist Dr. Trish Holden, all from UCSB, will start setting out computerized “drogues,” which look like orange buoys and float along with the ocean current, tracking the path of the sewage. Seawater samples will be taken and tested for bacteria and DNA as the drogues drift along.
Virus testing of the samples will also take place thanks to extra funds donated by the Ann Jackson Family Foundation and other anonymous sources. Samples will be collected and drogues will be set out once a week at the end of the sewage outfall for a year.
During the second year, Hauser said data will be analyzed and reports will be generated showing the path and impact of the sewage plume, which pours out into the ocean about 1,100 feet off the coast of Montecito. Hauser, scientists and observers from the State Water Resources Control Board visited the plume site about a month ago for a trial run.
“There was a patch of sludge out there that was pretty amazing,” Hauser said.
However, Hauser said, sewage outfalls are not necessarily the cause of high bacteria levels at local beaches, and said her organization plans to let the study speak for itself.
Hammonds Reef, near Miramar Beach in Montecito, is frequently listed by the Environmental Protection Agency as 303(d) impaired, meaning violations of water quality criteria have occurred. Many other beaches in the Santa Barbara area receive this designation, Hauser said, including Arroyo Burro, West and Rincon beaches.
“When we started Heal the Ocean, nobody would really acknowledge [sewage outfalls],” Hauser said. “The emphasis was all on creeks running into the ocean. We’re really thrilled that we got the ear of the state.”
Typically, sewage treatment involves three stages, primary, secondary and tertiary treatment. Most sewage is required to go through at least secondary treatment, Hauser said, including the Montecito outfall. Heal the Ocean recently examined the feasibility of upgrading to tertiary treatment.
“Everybody said it would cost the moon,” Hauser said. “The upgrade to go to full tertiary is something like $13 more a month for each home.”
The Montecito Sanitary District Board agreed to cooperate in the study, granting the researchers access to samples at its treatment plant. Heal the Ocean applied for the state grant earlier this year and had only received verbal approval until yesterday, when they received an official notification of their award.
“We’ve come a long way,” Hauser said. “It’s just really, really neat.”
Heal the Ocean is planning to put together a wastewater report of everything that is going into the ocean from Oregon to Mexico, along the entire length of the California coast, looking at other shallow-water sewage outfalls and examining their impact on the shoreline.
“It’s just a really insane way to use our oceans,” Hauser said. “...We’re fouling our own nest. It’s not very wise.”