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The
County of Santa Barbara, Environmental Health Agency
monitors approximately 20 locations on a weekly basis
throughout the year, from as far upcoast as Guadalupe
Dunes south of the Santa Maria River outside the City
of Guadalupe to a downcoast location at Rincon Beach,
north of the creek. Most samples are collected 25 yards
north or south of the mouth of a storm drain or creek.
Dry weather water quality at most beaches in Santa Barbara
County was good. Of the 20 water quality monitoring
locations, 17 locations received good-to-excellent water
quality marks (see Table 13 and Table 14). The cleanest
beaches were at Jalama Beach, Gaviota State Beach, El
Capitan State Beach, Sands, Goleta Beach, Butterfly
Beach, Carpinteria City Beach, and Rincon Beach. The
great news for the year was that the historically polluted
beach at Arroyo Quemada received a grade of B this year.
This is the first year in the past four years that Arroyo
Quemada did not receive an F grade. Although it is only
one year, perhaps the falconer at the Tajiguas Landfill
was an effective, but unorthodox best management practice
for improving water quality at Arroyo Quemada. By preventing
the sea gulls from accessing a major food source (the
landfill) and forcing them to forage elsewhere, the
falconer may be reducing the seagull impacts on water
quality at Arroyo Quemada. Another location to highlight
for beachgoers is Jalama Beach, which for the past two
years has had great water quality.
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| East
Beach at Mission Creek, Santa Barbara |
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East
Beach at Mission Creek was the lone monitoring location
which received a failing grade in Santa Barbara County,
and made Heal the Bay's Top Ten Beach Bummer list at
number nine. This was the fourth consecutive year that
East Beach at Mission Creek failed to receive a grade
of C or higher during dry weather year-round. As always,
if you plan to swim or surf at Rincon Beach, enter on
the north side (Santa Barbara County) where the grade
was an A, versus the south side (Ventura County) which
received a C grade.
Wet
weather water quality in Santa Barbara County on the
whole continues to be poor. Although 55% of the beaches
received an F this year, this was a slight improvement
compared to the previous three years - 60% in 2002,
100% in 2001, and 79% in 2000.
Please
see Table 15 for a brief comparison between the three-year
average and this year's dry- and wet-weather water quality
grades for Santa Barbara County beaches. The good news
for Santa Barbara County beaches is that the general
water quality trend for both dry and wet weather was
improved compared to previous years as demonstrated
in Table 15.
Clean
Beach Initiative Summary
CBI water quality improvement projects are scheduled
for Jalama Beach, Refugio Beach, Rincon Beach, Mission
Creek, and Arroyo Burro. The City of Santa Barbara
received
a $125,000 grant for a source identification/source
abatement effort, and for identifying locations
for dry-weather low flow diversions at Mission Creek
and Arroyo Burro Creek. The County of Santa Barbara
received $1.2 million in grants to retrofit beach bathroom
facilities to prevent wastewater discharges and runoff
pollution from impacting Jalama Beach, Refugio Beach,
and Rincon Beach.
Sewage
Spill Summary
There were zero (0) reported sewage spills in Santa
Barbara County that led to beach closures.
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