Storm Watch: The Enterococcus Project

Project Goals.

Contamination of beaches by enterococcus bacteria occurs mostly during and after storms. With this project we attempted to pinpoint where most of these bacteria enter the creek and how levels of bacteria in Mission Creek are reflected in concentrations along the beach. Channel Keeper data with flow measurements made at the Mission Cr. sampling sites by UCSB and additional bacteriological data collected by the City of Santa Barbara during the storm. Our goal is to quantify the export of enterococcus from Mission Creek to the ocean.

Enterococcus is the primary indicator bacteria recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency for gauging the suitability of ocean beaches for water recreation. The limit for safe swimming and surfing is 104 enterococcus bacteria in 100 ml of water (about 4 ounces).

Special thanks to UCSB and the City of Santa Barbara for helping with this project.

Storm Watch Dates

Click on the date below to see our results

Part I: February 2, 2004
(press release click here)