Ocean pollution is a serious problem. What is in our ocean water affects both the health of beachgoers and the sea creatures we love. For example, over 20,000 swim advisories and beach closures are issued every year to protect the health of beachgoers across the U.S. It’s unacceptable that a day at the beach could result in stomach flu, skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections or worse.
Blue Water Task Force
The Blue Water Task Force is our volunteer-run, water testing, education and advocacy program which provides valuable water quality information to beach communities, identifies problems with beach and coastal water pollution, and works in your local community to raise awareness of pollution problems and implement solutions. The Blue Water Task Force provides you with the information you need to know if a day at the beach will make you sick. We have been working on weekly testing at the San Luis Creek mouth in Avila Beach.
Goals
- To provide concerned citizens with the opportunity for hands-on involvement with an environmental problem solving effort
- To gather coastal water samples on a regular basis to determine pollution patterns in the near shore environment
- To raise public awareness regarding the extent and severity of coastal water pollution
- To use the data collected to bring polluters into compliance
- To develop a model program that could influence national legislation and enforcement
We currently monitor water quality at the Avila Pier and the river mouth, collecting water quality data that is not collected by the county and report all findings to the Surfrider Foundation.
Resources
- Water Testing Hotline: 805-788-3411
- Report an Ocean Illness (https://sickatthebeach.crowdmap.com) – You can track incidents of skin infections, gastro-intestinal symptoms and other ocean illnesses at your local beaches with this on-line, sickness reporting tool.
- Beach Water Quality – SLO County Health Dept.
- Report Ocean Health
The Endangered Waves App for iOS empowers and incentivizes surfers to monitor the health of their own coastlines through crowdsourced data. Created by Save the Waves Coalition. Download in the App Store. - Blue Water Task Force (www.surfrider.org)