Santa Monica Baykeeper and Ballona Creek Need You!

Do you want to help improve LA rivers’ and coastal water quality? If the answer is yes then you ought to consider volunteering with Santa Monica Baykeeper‘s new DrainWatch program, which is in need of dedicated clean water supporters like yourself!

DrainWatch will help to identify and address sources of pollution that impact the LA and San Gabriel Rivers, Ballona Creek and eventually the Santa Monica and San Pedro Bay in the Pacific. Santa Monica Baykeeper has, for over 15 years, worked to cleanup and improve the coastal ecosystems of this portion of Southern California. This hands-on program will provide background on the causes and implications of stormwater pollution.

Samples, collected by volunteers, will serve as indicators of water quality. They will be collected directly from flowing storm drains and analyzed for harmful pollutants. The results of the samples will be shared with the appropriate municipalities and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. The findings will also be used by Santa Monica Baykeeper to educate the public.

In order for DrainWatch to succeed in these goals they will need a base of great volunteers, and they will need a lot of them! Ballona Creek is nine miles long and has 152 different storm drains that will serve as water sample collection sites.

Training and orientation will happen on Wednesday, July 20^th at the Santa Monica Baykeeper office from 7:00 to 8:30pm, which is located at 120 Broadway, Suite 105 in Santa Monica. Sampling will occur on the morning of Sunday, July 24^th.

Please visit www.smbaykeeper.org/drainwatch for more information.