Noelle Barger, San Diego Oceans Foundation

Noelle Barger is operations manager for the San Diego Oceans Foundation (SDOF), a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting ocean stewardship through community-supported projects.

I have a meeting today with Andrew, one of the Board of Directors, regarding our water quality program. We have been brainstorming for several weeks to try to develop a better program for water quality. Ideas have been slow to come, so I have been researching the subject in my spare time. I approached my neighbor, Ryan, for help.

Last week, Ryan loaned me a book about the water quality at our local recreational beaches. I was shocked to read that the same waters I love to swim, SCUBA dive, and surf in are sometimes unsafe for human contact due to pollution. How can this be? Rarely in Mission Beach have I seen signs stating that the water is polluted. Yet, I do remember that Mission Bay has been closed several times recently due to sewage spills and other non-point source pollution.

It is fortunate that my apartment is next to Ryan's. Ryan is a major player in the local watersports community in San Diego, and he has taught me more about environmental issues in the past month than I learned in all my years at college. He is very passionate about these issues and, lucky for me, he lives next door and gives me free professional consultations. So, to prepare for the meeting today with Andrew, I visited Ryan last night to gather some information.

The first thing I learned is that there are two separate -- and significantly different -- systems used to convey wastewater in San Diego. The sewage system carries wastewater from drains in houses and buildings to regional sewage treatment plants. The plants treat the water and then discharge the treated wastewater into the ocean.

The storm drain system is quite different. It collects runoff from streets and sidewalks and discharges it directly into our bays and oceans without any treatment. The drains you see on the side of the street lead into the storm drain system and eventually into the oceans and bays.

I know that water quality in San Diego is often affected by sewage spills, urban runoff, or a combination of both. But exactly what is a sewage spill? Sewage spills occur when a sewer pipe leaks raw sewage into the water. Often, the sewage will overflow into either a creek or the street, where it then flows into a storm drain, and then directly into the water. The sewer pipes that leak can eventually crack apart, causing millions of gallons of raw sewage to enter creeks and rivers, sometimes carrying pollution as far as hundreds of miles downstream.

Through my past experience at Torrey Pines State Park, I learned the direct implications of urban runoff. During my five-month stint there, we had to close the lagoon probably 10 times due to sewage spills and urban runoff. Urban runoff contains everything that flows into the storm drains, including such fun stuff as dead animals, animal waste, pesticides, fertilizers, soaps, motor oil, and so forth. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? These pollutants sit and fester in the dank, smelly pipes until something pushes them into the water ... usually rain. What shocked me was that even though we would patrol the area at Torrey Pines and post signs stating that the lagoon was closed due to water contamination, people still swam in it. Were they crazy or what? I decided that I would try to educate more people on urban runoff and non-point source pollution. Almost every family I approached had never heard of non-point source pollution and was not aware of the many diseases lurking in the water due to the recent sewage spill.

Both sewage and urban runoff can make people sick if they have contact by swimming in it. Common illnesses include eye and skin infections, gastroenteritis, sinus infections, and ear infections, but people have also contracted hepatitis, meningitis, and other more serious diseases from swimming in contaminated waters. It seems people just aren't aware of the dangers involved, so I asked Ryan why the public isn't better educated on these matters. I was intrigued to learn that there are relatively few systems in place to test the water and warn the public.

Currently, the city and county test some of our local beaches about once a week. They test for levels of bacteria that may indicate that the water has been contaminated by sewage, runoff, or both. Depending on the results, the county will either post signs closing the beach due to sewage, post signs advising the public of high bacteria levels, or warn the public about areas that are chronically contaminated. Officials do not post signs at beaches that are not tested unless there is a known sewage spill.

While these tests are certainly helpful, they are only performed about once a week, and only at some locations. In fact, most of our beaches are never tested. This means that even if there is contamination, and the waters have been tested, there is still only a one-in-seven chance that signs will be posted to warn people. The visitors at Torrey Pines State Park were lucky because they had park rangers and aides to warn them of the dangers. However, as I mentioned before, sometimes warning the public doesn't always work -- people still swim in the polluted water.

I shared this information with some of my fellow enviros at SDOF and we decided that something needed to be done to increase the information available to the public. First, there must be increased water testing, both in terms of frequency and geographic range. Second, there must be more prominent public notification of the results of the water testing. Third, the public must be informed about the issues that affect water quality. Finally, we need to work closely with our government to ensure that it understands the need for comprehensive water monitoring and pollution prevention programs.

As a nonprofit organization dedicated to ocean and bay stewardship, SDOF's mission certainly embraces water monitoring and public notification. However, the technical expertise and funding necessary for us to successfully run water monitoring programs are significant challenges. Should SDOF work with other environmental groups already testing? Should we solicit for grants to start our own program? As we move forward, one thing is clear: SDOF recognizes the importance of our recreational water quality, and we will be doing something about it.