what’s inside Clean Beaches and Water Quality State of Our Watersheds Arroyo Burro Mission Creek Sycamore Creek Laguna Creek Community Priorities How You Can Help Benefits of a Healthy Watershed a community guide to watershed action plans b clean beaches depend on healthy watersheds The abundance of mountains, hills, natural areas, creeks and beaches contributes to Santa Barbara’s reputation as one of the most beautiful areas in the world. As stewards of this environment, we all play an important role in preserving and enhancing our watersheds. We all live in a watershed—land that is our watersheds is revealing new opportunities to drained by a creek system that flows to the address these challenges. ocean. The health of our creeks and beaches Community Input is linked to the health of our watersheds. As a first step, in late 2004, the Creeks Division The purpose of this guide is to inform Santa held a series of community forums. Hundreds of Barbara residents about the state of our people offered their thoughts about the creeks watersheds and to provide a foundation for and potential watershed goals and priorities. Key developing action plans to improve our issues included trash, water quality, water manage- creeks and ocean water quality. ment, habitat protection, recreation, public education, and how the community can help. Our City Community priorities identified during the work- The Creeks Division Santa Barbara is a relatively dense urban area, built shops are summarized on page 14. More detailed mostly within the boundaries of four major water- The mission of the City of Santa reports are posted on the Creeks Division web sheds. Neighborhoods edge up against streams Barbara Creeks Division is to improve page at www.sbcreeks.com. and within floodplains. Creeks have been routed the health and water quality of our into man-made channels and underground pipes. creeks and the ocean. Our programs Scientific Input Land that would otherwise retain and store water is include reducing storm water Good science is key to understanding the relation- paved over with streets, parking lots and buildings. pollution, restoring creeks and ships between natural systems and human land use This disrupts the normal meandering flow of water encouraging community participation decisions. Concurrent with the community work- and the natural processes that would ordinarily and awareness. The Creeks Division is shops, the City commissioned a comprehensive filter rain water before it reaches the ocean. funded through grants and Measure study to establish a baseline for watershed health, B, which was passed by voters in 2000 The effects of urbanization have begun to show up management needs and opportunities for restora- and places a 2% tax on visitor stays in on the beach and in the ocean. Beach warnings tion. This study, Watersheds Existing Conditions local hotels. Visit our website at demonstrate that a healthy beach is linked to the Report, provides much of the scientific basis for www.sbcreeks.com. quality of the water in the ocean—a direct result of setting watershed management priorities. To the quality of the water that flows into it from land. review the draft report, go to www.sbcreeks.com. Santa Barbara now faces constant challenges to Next Steps–You Can Help! preserve and enhance water quality, The next step is developing Watershed Action and protect creeks and creekside Plans to guide coordinated improvements within habitat, floodplain areas, the watersheds. Your input is critical to the success recreational corridors of the plans—we invite you to help make decisions and beaches. An about how to manage and preserve our water- integrated look at sheds. (See the schedule on the back page.) Did you know that urban runoff flows to storm drains and then directly to the creeks and ocean? 2 santa barbara’s living watersheds and ocean 154 PACIFIC OCEAN the santa barbara watersheds …from the ridgetops… through the city… to the ocean… Santa Barbara’s four main watersheds run The mountains then drop steeply down toward north/south from the top of the Santa Ynez the foothills and middle watersheds. Because of Mountains, down through Los Padres National this steepness, water flows downhill very quickly Forest, through county areas and the city, and during periods of heavy rainfall. out to the beaches and ocean. They include: Most of Santa Barbara is located within the • Arroyo Burro on the west; lower floodplains which once included native What Pollutes Creek Water? • Mission Creek through downtown; riparian forests. Now home to more than 90,000 Urban runoff flowing into creeks people, many areas of the city are developed contains pollutants such as oil, pet • Sycamore Creek on the east; and with roads, parking lots, offices, shops and waste, trash, fertilizers, pesticides, • Laguna Creek, nestled on the flats and now housing. These surfaces don’t allow water to and landscape waste that are then mostly below ground in pipes. percolate down into the ground. Instead, water carried out into the ocean. The mountainous areas on the south side of the runs off at high speed into creeks, which can Santa Ynez ridge represent the upper area of overflow and make flood conditions worse. the watersheds. Mostly within the Los Padres National Forest, they remain natural open areas, although dirt roads have cut across some sensi- tive habitats and unstable soils are causing some erosion and sedimentation in the creeks. a community guide to healthy watersheds 3 the state of our watersheds There are a number of factors that sources of groundwater. Although this can vary, in contribute to the health of our watersheds drought years, groundwater is more important. and healthy watersheds can balance both There are also areas where groundwater is very human and ecosystem needs. Some of these near the surface and seeps into the creeks. factors and potential solutions include: Because it is near the surface, shallow groundwater is also vulnerable to urban pollution. 1 Water Quality: Santa Barbara’s creeks suffer a range of pollutants during storms and throughout 4 Creek Banks and Geomorphology: Many of the year. The primary pollutant is bacteria, which the creek channels in Santa Barbara are unstable. can come from a number of sources. Other Creeks naturally change through erosion and Zones of Watershed pollutants include sediment, oil, trash, pesticides, sedimentation, as well as from unstable soils and Management soap residues, and landscape debris. Illegal dump- geology. Instability increases with urban develop- ment. Bank erosion leads to property losses and Our watersheds are managed by a ing and littering occurs on a year-round basis, downstream pollution. Attempts to stabilize banks number of local, state and federal particularly in the lower sections of Mission, with structures such as walls, can further contribute governmental agencies that address Sycamore and Laguna Creeks. to creek instability. Opportunities to stabilize creek different land, water, natural habitat To better understand pollutant sources and banks may be best achieved on a neighborhood and wildlife issues. Watershed Action develop solutions, the Creeks Division conducts basis or by creek segments. Plans can help guide coordination creek and storm monitoring, and supports DNA among different agencies: source tracking research. Creek clean-ups remove 5 Hydrology and Flooding: Because of natural topography, urbanization and creek encroachment, Upper Watersheds trash on a weekly basis, and enforcement the city has flooding problems primarily in the US Forest Service programs reduce illegal discharges. lower Mission, Laguna and Sycamore watersheds. Middle and Lower Watersheds 2 Water Supply: Santa Barbara receives most of Impervious or hard surfaces contribute to flooding County of Santa Barbara its drinking water from the Cachuma and Gibraltar because rain water cannot be absorbed. City of Santa Barbara Reservoirs. Extraction is balanced with conservation California Department of Fish to reduce harmful effects on those watersheds. The use of water detention systems, vegetated and Game Programs to use more recycled water, expand swales, and porous pavement may increase Coast and Ocean native landscapes and reduce water use help infiltration in some areas. Solutions to flooding City of Santa Barbara conserve limited water resources and reduce problems on lower Mission Creek are underway, California Coastal Commission polluted runoff. additional work to address flooding for Laguna and State Lands Commission Sycamore Creeks is still needed. Solutions are 3 Groundwater Management: The city National Oceanic and difficult due to cost, narrow creek channels, and receives about 10% of its water supply from deep Atmospheric Administration existing development. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The Caltrans and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also involved in many water and coastal issues. Watershed Action Plans can help guide efforts across political and jurisdictional boundaries by creating a coordinated approach to address- ing land, water, habitat, and urban development issues. 4 santa barbara’s living watersheds and ocean What Degrades a Watershed? A healthy watershed can be degrad- ed by various physical conditions or human activities such as: • Large areas of impervious (paved) surfaces, reducing rainwater filter- ing and causing more runoff at faster speeds • Creek bank and channel erosion increases sediment that harms aquatic life • Leaking sewer lines or septic tanks, which can increase bacteria levels 6 Land Use/Land Cover: Taken together, the hillside and other high fire hazard areas. Methods • Littering and illegal dumping which four main watersheds comprise 17,663 acres of to balance habitat protection with vegetation pollutes creeks and the ocean land. Of this land area, 51% is within the City of management for fire protection can support • Storm drain conditions that cause Santa Barbara, while 13% is unincorporated county healthy watersheds. back ups and flooding • Landslides due to unstable geology land, and 36% is within the Los Padres National 10 Terrestrial biology: Many native plant or human-induced instability Forest.