The Sea Otter Stormwater Connection—pollution problems from land to sea

Updated October 2009

When it rains, rain water does one of two things: it gets soaked up into the ground, or it flows off the ground into the nearest water conveyance. In urban areas, a lot of the ground has been paved over by impervious surfaces, like cement, asphalt and concrete. This means water that would have been returned to the ground flows into storm drains or creeks, often picking up substantial pollutants along the way. From there, it flows to rivers, watersheds, bays, and open ocean. Some of the things that water can pick up along the way include oil, dirt, pesticides and lawn fertilizers, trash, soap, and other chemicals.

More than 30 years after the Clean Water Act was passed with the goal of making US waters fishable, swimmable, and generally clean, the US has substantial water quality problems, with many of our public waterways considered “impaired”. Stormwater has been identified as a major threat to good water quality. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “The most recent National Water Quality Inventory reports that runoff from urbanized areas is the leading source of water quality impairments to surveyed estuaries and the third-largest source of impairments to surveyed lakes.” Stormwater can also have resounding impacts on sensitive marine ecosystems.

Stormwater management is regulated by the EPA through the issuance of permits called National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Cities and counties must develop Stormwater Management Plans (SWMPS) in order to receive a permit. The SWMP sets forth a plan to mitigate the impacts of stormwater pollution through a range of practices, including educating the public, minimizing chemical use for pest management and city maintenance, following good construction practices, and conducting outreach to businesses whose activities might impact water quality. Recently, stormwater management plans have been expanded to require cities and counties to consider the impact of development on water quality, and to require Low Impact Development (LID).

Stormwater is particularly challenging because it encompasses so many types of activities, pollutants, and requires participation from lots of different players! Good stormwater management can only be achieved through strong leadership from public agencies, but it also requires that people follow pollution prevention on the ground!

So why should we care? Sea otters are dying from a range of diseases and appear to have poor body conditions. It can be very hard to identify the exact source of sea otter mortality when they’re being impacted by such a wide range of pollutants from urban and agricultural runoff. It can be even harder to understand synergistic connections between contaminants. It’s pretty clear that otters are suffering from poor water quality though—not only do they swim around in what is increasingly a chemical soup of our urban residue, but many of them subsist off of shellfish like mussels, clams and fat innkeeper worms , which accumulate toxins. The otters at the top of the food chain bio-accumulate these toxins, which can negatively impact their health.

 Which means keeping contaminants, disease and toxins out of the water is a BIG piece of the puzzle. It just so happens that the centers of the otter population are also centers of high density human populations. It appears we both like to live around pretty bays with lots of marine life, like Monterey and Morro Bay. This is great for people who love to watch otters, but it means we need to be more careful about how our waste is managed.

The Otter Project and the Monterey Coastkeeper have a long history of working for improved Stormwater Management along the coast. For a detailed look at our work in the Monterey Coastkeeper’s range, check out our letters of commentary on the Monterey Coastkeeper Stormwater page.

 So what can you do?

Stormwater management requires us all to make good choices for water quality! No matter where you live, your actions count. Here are just a few ways you can help:

• Don’t wash your car on the sidewalk where all the chemicals can flow into the storm drain—have it done professionally at a business that follows good stormwater practices, or minimize your use of water with a waterless (green) wash.
• Don’t go crazy with the lawn chemicals! If you haven’t ditched the lawn for a native plant garden yet, at least try to minimize your use of pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and other garden chemicals. Ask your local nursery or hardware store for safe alternatives. Some even sponsor workshops and trainings.
• Don’t change your oil on the sidewalk or street! If you don’t know how to do it without making a mess, have a trained professional do it for you at a business that follows good stormwater practices.
• It probably goes without saying, but don’t dump anything down the storm drain that you wouldn’t dump into the ocean! Water from storm drains doesn’t get treated—it flows directly to the bay.
• Volunteer! Lots of cities and counties want to follow good practices, but don’t have the resources. Contact your city or county about ways you can help improve stormwater management. Many cities have programs for volunteers to paint storm drains, collect water quality data, pick up trash on beaches, and raise awareness at fairs and festivals. Also, cities are more likely to do a good job of stormwater management if they know the public cares and is willing to get involved!
• If you see sources of pollution, report it to your city or county! This includes individual polluters, sewage spills, overflowing trashcans, or other big problems that need attention. Many cities have a pollution prevention hotline.
• Join in The Otter Project’s Sea Otter Stormwater Challenge and help us raise awareness through social networking platforms like facebook and twitter! We’ll be posting information, ways you can help, news and of course cute sea otter pictures to keep you going.

Want to know more about stormwater?

General Information

EPA fact sheet

EPA Nonpoint Source Pollution page

EPA Stormwater Page

California Stormwater Quality Association

Central Coast

Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board

Monterey Regional Stormwater and Education Alliance

Monterey Regional Stormwater Management Plan

City of Monterey Planning and Engineering’s Stormwater Pollution and You

Santa Cruz County Department of Public Works

Santa Cruz City’s Stormwater Page

City of Watsonville’s Stormwater Page

Salinas’ Urban Watershed Management Program

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary’s Water Quality Page