The proposal for the grant was written by Cindy Wu and Mark Morey with extra motivation and advice from Ernie Kram. Currently, the county of Santa Barbara tests water at a number of beaches from Vandenburg to Rincon with a noticeable gap between Goleta Beach and Sands. Since the beach in front of UCSB and Isla Vista gets heavy use year round, we felt it was appropriate to "increase the resolution" of the water testing for the county.

To perform the tests, Ellie Fairbairn, a second major Environmental Biology student, collects 4 samples at the four sites on wednesdays at noon. They are refrigerated and sent to the Santa Barbara County laboratory for analysis. The protocol is to wait 24 hours for full incubation of the samples. These results are faxed to us thursday afternoon and posted a few hours later.

Overall, the water in Isla Vista and UCSB is clean. There are 2 predictable exceptions to this general rule. The first is elevated levels after rain events. At the beginning of this project, there was a rain storm of Biblical proportions. Our goal was to collect a sample during the peak of the rain for a "first flush". Unfortunately, the county's stream water tracking and regular beach water testing overwhelmed the lab and we were unable to get early results. Two days after the rain, we collected samples which came up just under the limits for the 3 pathogens tested. Campus point was not bad but Pescadero and Depressions were filthy. The second exception is Pescadero, which always has a bit of fecal coliform from inconsiderate pet owners and plain ole' human animals.

There is important information being generated by these tests.

1. The water really is filthy after a rain. (But campus point, during this one (1) test, didn't seem too bad 2 days later.)

2. Pescadero, in the center of IV, is not pristine due to the proximity of numerous, abused storm drains.

3.The stormdrains, with all the contributions of vomit, piss, beer and dog shit flows right onto YOUR beach.