NOAA asking for volunteers to help keep the ocean clean

It’s been several months since the Central Coast has seen rainfall, but cities are starting to prepare.

Local scientists are gearing up for the pollution that rainfall could push into the ocean. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary works hard to protect the ocean. Something the community can get behind.

Azi Feduoi has been playing his music in Monterey since he was thirteen. He says the ocean “keeps our community well. Knowing how it flows. Knowing how Things go in and out and whether it’s going to be constricted, or if it’s going to be overwhelmed with chemical debris.”

During the first rainstorm of the year, much of the threat could be coming out of storm drains. Because of this, cities along the peninsula work hard to keep pollutants out of water by monitoring storm drains.

During the dry season oils, detergents, and metals get caked onto the streets, and the first big rain pushes them off the streets and into the ocean. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary depends on volunteers to monitor those drains once a year.

Lisa Emanuelson is the volunteer monitoring coordinator. She says, “The volunteers will be placed on teams and they will be assigned to a storm drain outfall. When they get the call to mobilize, the volunteers will go out to the outfall and collect samples of the water that is coming out of the outfall and also do some field measurements.”

The call comes before first major rain of the season. And though it’s a volunteer based system… the equipment is free to use. “Local cities are using this data to identify areas that

Need extra work or extra help in improving water quality,” says Lisa.

So with all this prep. When will the Central Coast get that first major rain storm of the year? We typically head out of our dry season and into the wet heading into October and November.

If you would like more information on how to help out monitoring storm drains. The training begins September 20th. Find more information here: https://montereybay.noaa.gov/resourcepro/urbancando.html