Grant Money to Fund Near-Shore Study

Heal the Ocean received a $333,435 grant to organize a two-year study of near-shore (no farther than 1,100 feet from shore), shallow (22 to 35 feet deep) water near the Montecito Sanitary District sewage outfall at Butterfly Beach. The organization will contract with UCSB oceanographers Libe Washburn, Carter Ohlmann, and Trish Holden to conduct the study. This outfall is up-coast from Hammond’s Reef, a local surfing spot listed by the EPA as being impaired by high bacteria counts.