Arroyo Burro Estuary Restoration and UV Treatment System
by Santa Barbara Urban Creeks Council
Santa Barbara City planners have apparently received a green light on the environmental document, a very cursory negative declaration, with direction from the Planning Commission to develop a monitoring agreement.
The project includes restoration work, with some very nice elements, but also includes introducing unproven ultra violet technology into an environmentally sensitive habitat.
The UV equipment will kill bacteria, in hopes of making the ocean safer for swimmers. But the UV treatment does not target just harmful microbes. It kills any microorganism or tiny invertebrate that might also be present. There are concerns that this sterilization treatment may whack the bottom end of the estuarine food chain out of balance for a significant portion of the year.
The experimental installation, using technology that has been found to be effective in killing microbial life in aquariums, has also been used successfully by the city of Encinitas at Moonlight Beach to reduce bacterial counts where a storm drain discharges directly to the ocean. However, their installation does not receive input from a live stream and does not discharge into a rare coastal lagoon or other wetland ecosystem.
Will the UV system significantly reduce bacterial counts in the ocean at the outflow? Will it reduce beach closures? Responses by planners to both of these questions at a recent Planning Commission Hearing confirmed that its ability to reduce bacterial counts and beach closures is unknown.
We are assured, however, that anything that passes through the system will be sterilized while it is operational during 5 months of the summer . 100% of the water flowing from the Mesa Creek tributary, (300 feet of which by the way will be dug up and daylighted as part of the project) will be treated, as will 80% of the flow in Arroyo Burro main creek.
The Urban Creeks Council urges the city to evaluate the watershed systematically, to ensure that there is not an alternative location that might be cheaper and more preferable for important environmental reasons, for operation of UV waste treatment technology.
An environmental impact report would require a range of alternatives to be looked at, and should have been prepared in this instance.