Kids Speaking Up: Swimming with Sewage?

What's in the water sure takes the fun out of going to the beach.

By Sophie D'Arcy, Kids Speaking Up | Published on 09.23.2008

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I love natural bodies of water. I thrive in cool, flowing rivers, lakes and oceans. That is why I have always felt fortunate to live on the beautiful coast of Santa Barbara, with some of the most astonishing beaches in the world. But it was not until I came back from a trip to Easter Island a year ago, that it dawned on me how slough-like and filthy our beaches are.

Sophie D’Arcy

For the longest time, I had dismissed the greenish-brown color of the ocean as fairly normal; I didn’t want an insignificant detail like that to keep me from enjoying my time at the beach. It was only until recently that I started to wonder exactly what is in the water. After doing some basic research, I found that our Santa Barbara beaches are highly contaminated with harmful and vile bacteria. So much in fact, that, according to Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, there were “145 beach closure or advisory days at Santa Barbara County beaches in 2007.” This may be due to the already 20 sewage spills in Santa Barbara in 2008. This also may be due to contamination by raw sewage, which includes “microbes that cause everything from sinus, ear and stomach infections to cholera, hepatitis, and dysentery,” according to Channelkeeper.

Is it just me, or is there something seriously wrong with this picture? As a citizen of Santa Barbara County, as well as a fun-loving, beach-going teenager, I am ardently concerned with these facts. How can one feel safe swimming in these tainted waters? How am I expected to give up my love of swimming at these beaches? By polluting the ocean with sewage and other harmful chemicals and not taking action, we are not only harming our environment, but ruining our own livelihood as a community and the livelihoods of future generations on the Santa Barbara coast.

I urge you to contact the Santa Barbara City Council. While they have worked with local organizations, such as Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, to help fix the deteriorating sewage systems, there is certainly more the City Council can order repaired.

Dos Pueblos High freshman Sophie D’Arcy is co-founder of Kids Speaking Up, a local group working to educate youth on social, national and political issues and inspire them to write.

Comments

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» cmk on 09.24.08 @ 09:27 AM

Well-spoken, Sophie, and articulated better than most articles I’ve read on the subject. Keep up the vigilance and continue to shine a light on the problem and you can indeed make difference. You have my vote. :)

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» Cayla on 09.24.08 @ 07:37 PM

Go sophie!!

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» individual contribution on 09.24.08 @ 09:02 PM

This is wise advice to contact the city council, however, more beach closures are due to urban runoff. That is the stuff that runs off of our lawns and sidewalks, into the storm drains and eventually to the ocean. We all need to take a look at fertilizer use, picking up pet waste, leaking oil from cars and the basic litter on the street to keep our beaches clean. I sincerely hope that Kids Speaking Up brings issues like this to the forefront and not just hand the issue over to an elected body or a company with the hopes that a change can occur. Get the word out to teens everywhere and adults for that matter. Make the changes at home and in your yard and we will see a marked difference in our beaches.

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» Annette Bannister on 09.24.08 @ 09:54 PM

Wow, Sophie. I am so impressed that, at fourteen, you have co-founded a group dedicated to writing about issues important to teenagers and adults. Way to go!!

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» Brian Ehler on 09.25.08 @ 09:20 AM

Sophie, don’t believe everything these folks tell you..take a tour of a local wastewater plant and ask questions and more questions…Heal the Ocean and Channelkeeper depend on fear to keep the donations coming in….don’t let them scare you. Hold them accountable when they use fear tactics to scare young people… and keep up the good work!

Ocean Facts: The waters of the Pacific Ocean are already grossly unsuitable for human consumption. They contain highly toxic (to humans) amounts of salt and smaller quantities of almost every element and compound — hazardous and beneficial — known to man. Also present are an untold number of bacteria, including various dangerous ones from the intestinal tracts of land and sea animals. In fact, if it’s poisonous and exists anywhere on Earth, it’s in the ocean.
but the good news is the ocean is a healthy place, despite what Channelkeeper may say. Wastewater plants are biological wonders and are the last, best defense against ocean pollution by people.

Citizens’ groups such as Heal the Ocean and Channel Keeper have long suggested that the city’s aging sewer system was leaking into the ground water and moving underground into the surf. But preliminary results from a study, which is funded in part by Heal the Ocean, suggest that city sewers are not to blame. More taxpayer money wasted on another study. Common sense could have told her the outcome.The sewer system pipes aren’t pressurized.
Brian Ehler

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» Opinone on 09.25.08 @ 09:52 AM

Great article Sophie! It brings a sigh of relief when our younger generations jump on the band wagon to help clean up the mess. Take heed of “Individual Contribution’s” comments though. We really DO need to stop dumping chemicals and waste EVERYWHERE!! Take a walk down just about any street in Santa Barbara to see the endless disgust of cigarette butts, empty booze bottles/cans, fast food containers and all-around trash. We have become a horrendous throw away society, all of which runs off into the sewage system with a direct link to the ocean. Clean up our act and we can start cleaning up the world.

A note to Brian Ehler - a few scare tactics by Heal the Ocean and Channelkeeper may just make people more aware of serious issues. Don’t blame the people that want to make it better!

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» admin on 09.25.08 @ 03:54 PM

A note to opinone

I’m all for people making it better and many do ...however, spreading misinformation, trespassing into wastewater plants to grab samples, ignoring strict sampling protocol, and ignoring obvious signs of ocean pollution like litter and dogs; or trying to tell me that the ocean is a pristine place and that you and a few celebrities are going to “save” it from “us” is silly..environmentalism is often hard and dirty work..fundraising and platitudes won’t get the job done…

again: look at the ocean realities to separate facts from fiction

there’s a psychology of ocean pollution…...hysteria, emotional reactions to our own bodily functions, bad samples, false positives, and other factors designed to keep you out of the water and the money coming in to “Ocean Saviors” to do redundant, private testing…common sense is the best defense against the hysterics… work and awareness are the best defense against human caused pollution.

Brian Ehler

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» Opinone on 09.26.08 @ 11:24 AM

In case anyone missed it, I too mention that we, as a society, are wasteful and careless. I don’t work for Heal the Ocean or Channelkeeper, and we should NEVER endorse illegal activities by anyone, but at least these organizations are making people aware and are DOING something about the problem. Yes, there are probably several better ways to address environmental issues. Unfortunately, and obviously, people don’t listen, or change their mentality until a problem is beyond serious. I’m not perfect either. I use electricity and water and, I do create waste. However, I do try to help a little by biking or walking to work as often as I can. When I do drive, my car is in good working order and it gets, not excellent, but very good gas mileage (over 30 mpg). I wash and reuse plastic containers whenever possible and I definitely DO NOT throw garbage in the streets!

Brian Ehler, you also make some very good points and I should have given credit for such. Without sewage plants, our oceans would be much worse off than they are. However, although our sewage system may not be the main cause of pollutants in our oceans, there is still culpability there.

All I’m saying is don’t stomp on a young girls hope of being a part of something good by telling her not to listen to certain groups. Sophie, do your thing and keep up the good work. Find out all you can about every angle of your cause. Don’t just write about it, get out there and make a change for the better!

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» Kim Miller on 09.28.08 @ 10:58 AM

Well done, Sophie. :)
I’ve lived here for 40 years now. I grew up playing in Atascadero Creek and at Hendry’s beach. I’ve noticed a great deal of waterway degradation over the years. For example, when I was a child, every small tidepool at the beach was filled with all kinds of interesting life forms. Now, they’re barren of all but a few anenomes.

I’m not a plumbing expert, but my direct experience with observing the dissolved remains of sewer pipes installed underneath school buildings (new in 1961) and my own house (new in 1964) suggests to me that 100 year old sewer pipes in earthquake-prone Santa Barbara/Goleta just might be leaking.

I also think every storm drain should have a bioswale area before the water gets to the creek.

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» opinion #2 on 09.29.08 @ 07:26 AM

Increase in population, increase in trash and pollution, decrease in self-responsibility for some, (which proportionately can be devastating) , effect..decrease water quality. We need to focus on self-responsibility and better prevention models. Anyone…Bueller?

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» lauren sherman on 10.12.08 @ 09:49 PM

Dear sophie,
im currently a junior at dphs and am doing a research project on ocean pollution in the santa barbara area. while researching i came across your article. ive been searching every inch of my mind for while on how to help the community and this projected opened up my mind. im very interested in helping out your cause. i want to help the community and the enviorment very much. tell me how and where and what i can do to help and im there. you can email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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