Could the sewage spills' environmental and economic impact have been prevented?

By Megan Baehrens, San Diego Coastkeeper

On September 7th at the Social Venture Partners Grant Briefing, SVP Partner and Board Member, Joyce Ross highlighted the incredible growth in capacity and impact that San Diego Coastkeeper experienced as an SVP Investee.

That growth in capacity has shown in Coastkeeper’s ability to respond immediately to a catastrophic environmental event just down the hill from SVP’s office, where 2 million gallons of sewage spilled into Los Penasquitos Lagoon as a result of the power outage on September 8th.

San Diego Coastkeeper has already brought about corrective action. Thanks to the evidence collected by our volunteers, responsible parties will pump about 1M gallons of untreated sewage out of the lagoon. It was too late for the fish that died and devastating harm to that waterway, but it’s a start.

We can’t wait until another catastrophe like this occurs to act. We desperately need to work with authorities now to prevent further sewage crises and other devastating harms that lurk one generator failure away.

Our mayors, city council members, state officials and other decision-makers have the power to prevent serious environmental and economic damage before they happen. We know that SVP Partners care about our region’s social, economic and environmental vibrancy and we’d love your help in encouraging important conversations that educate the public about dangers we face and get decision-makers to make responsible choices.

Some examples of the work our region desperately needs San Diego Coastkeeper to do:

- Sewage: In 1995, San Diego averaged a sewage spill each day. San Diego Coastkeeper’s work reduced sewage spills by 90% since then. Old and easily clogged or damaged infrastructure must be monitored and routinely replaced. This weekend’s events demonstrate the catastrophic environmental and economic harm of not prioritizing this work.

- Copper boat hull paint: We are working with state senator Chris Kehoe to phase out copper hull paint that flakes into the water and sediment and kills marine life in marinas and the bay. The state bill was held back this session, but will return in January and we’ll be pushing for statewide support.

- Sewage in the bay: Coastkeeper employs scientists, educators and attorneys. We encourage our staff to pursue higher education. Dylan Edwards is working on a masters thesis related to gathering data about the extent of this problem in the bay and how to educate boaters and enforce proper use of mobile pump-out stations to prevent it.

- Sea level rise: A new state-commissioned report by San Francisco State University economists predicts that if we do nothing, the economic impact of sea level rise on Torrey Pines State Reserve and the local economy in Torrey Pines will be $125-500 million in the next 90 years. We have the opportunity to advise the San Diego Bay jurisdictions about preparing.

- A coordinated voice that speaks for the region. San Diego environmental groups from Sierra Club to Audubon to Environmental Health Coalition to Coastkeeper has come together weekly for years to collaborate and strategize around region-wide environmental issues. The power of our united effort greatly outstrips the “sum of our parts.” The coordinating member was recently re-assigned due to lack of funding. San Diego Coastkeeper would like to take up that mantle.

San Diego Social Venture Partners, thanks for all you do. As always, my team and I are happy to speak to anyone with an interest in these issues.

Megan can be reached at MeganB@sdcoastkeeper.org.