After every major storm event, there’s always the same advisory: Think twice about swimming in the ocean.
Over the past three rainy winters, the environmental nonprofit Sierra Club found high levels of bacteria — such as E. Coli — and other harmful pollutants in stormwater runoff on Santa Barbara’s East Side, flowing unfiltered into East Beach and the ocean.
Under the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, that empowers citizen groups to seek compliance with pollution prevention permits, and the Sierra Club was able to initiate lawsuits to hold the sources accountable. This week, after a year of negotiations, Sierra Club announced a settlement agreement with three companies responsible: the waste management company MarBorg, and two construction companies Lash and Kenney.
“The Clean Water Act is designed to stop pollution at its source,” explained Deborah Williams, a member of the Sierra Club’s executive committee and a lecturer at UC Santa Barbara in environmental studies. “We greatly appreciate the companies’ willingness to work toward solutions that will help safeguard East Beach for current and future generations,”she said.
During past rains, Sierra Club staff collected samples of stormwater running off from the three companies on the East Side and decided it was probably worth measuring them.
The runoff accumulated not only bacteria, but metals — such as copper and aluminum — and other substances that can be detrimental to the health of humans and animals — such as a resident pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins off East Beach’s shores.
Since the companies were willing to sit down and talk about it, Emily Engel, chair of Sierra Club’s Santa Barbara Group said, “everyone was able to come up with win-win solutions. … They’re all strong community partners,” she said.
The settlement led to immediate action, and all three companies were amiable and fast-acting, Williams noted. Many changes have already been made, including improvements to their stormwater management programs, expanded monitoring of stormwater discharges, and additional pollution controls.
MarBorg also agreed to install berms around its liquid waste yard. Subject to approval of City Hall, stormwater from those areas will be directed into the city’s sanitary sewer system, where it will be treated instead of flowing into the Pacific.
Other changes involved the installation of filtering mechanisms, covering potential pollution sites, and better sweeping and vacuuming of the facilities to prevent excess material from seeping into runoff — changes Williams characterized as notably low-tech, but could easily pass under the radar of busy companies.
The companies will also be donating a combined $95,000 to nonprofit Heal the Ocean to support its water quality initiatives and ongoing oversight to ensure implementation of the agreed-upon measures.
“We worked collaboratively with Sierra Club over many months to address concerns, identify practical solutions, and develop measures that will further strengthen our environmental programs,” said Alan Lash, vice president of Lash Construction. “As local businesses, we are committed to being good stewards of the community and natural resources that make Santa Barbara such a special place.”
Over the next three years, the judge in the case will oversee the settlement to make sure everything goes as planned. Sierra Club and the three companies will be involved in a dynamic process of monitoring runoff and completing any necessary adjustments to ensure they are in compliance with the Clean Water Act.
“Sierra Club received no profit from the case, and was not financially incentivized to pursue legal action”, Williams said, “but it was so worth it.”
