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Surfrider’s Annual Clean Water Report Highlights Infrastructure Needs and Toxin-Removing Landscapes

Too often, ocean water is laced with sewage and pollutants, affecting how safe beaches are for swimming and surfing –  that’s the message of this year’s Clean Water Report released Tuesday, May 25, by the Surfrider Foundation.

“We believe the water should be clean, always. We should be able to do that in all but the most unusual circumstances,” San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation CEO Chad Nelsen said. But instead, the report highlights inefficiencies in sewer infrastructure and a need to stop urban runoff before it reaches the coast, both main contributors to dirty water that plagues the country’s coastlines.

San Diego Exploring 2022 Ballot Measure to Pay for Growing Flood-Prevention, Stormwater Needs

San Diegans may face new taxes or fee increases to upgrade the city’s increasingly unreliable flood-prevention infrastructure, which needs an estimated $1.5 billion in repairs and modernization efforts during the next five years.

City officials announced this week they are exploring a possible November 2022 ballot measure that would boost funding for flood prevention with either new parcel taxes, property-related fees, special assessment taxes or other options.

How Safe is the Water Off the Coast of the San Onofre Nuclear Plant?

Though many may not know it, throughout its existence the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station has discharged wastewater that contains very low levels of radiation. All nuclear plants release some effluents, though the nature and amounts can vary by plant site and configuration.

Surfrider Foundation Opens New Water Quality Monitoring Lab in Carlsbad

The San Diego County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation announced a new water quality monitoring lab in Carlsbad Tuesday, as well as three new water quality testing sites along beaches in North County.

Pandemic Pollution Wreaking Havoc on San Diego County Beaches

Surfrider Study Calls For Allowing The Ocean To Advance Inland

While California scored the only “A” in a new environmental assessment of the nation’s beaches, the state’s sole shortcoming in the report pulls back the curtain on a growing conflict over whether beachfront homeowners should be allowed to protect their property against rising seas.

Some argue that protecting coastal homes, roads and train tracks with boulders and other types of seawalls is the most practical way to deal with sea-level rise. But the Surfrider Foundation, which issued the new report, is among those who believe that approach should be avoided. It says the result is the elimination of beaches as the ocean washes away sand and waves pound directly onto the armoring.