Water Quality

Water pollution problems in the Los Angeles region can be severe. Not only is public health at risk but also the health of marine ecosystems because intense urban development and runoff from streets and surfaces transports untreated contaminants directly into the ocean. This severely impacts the health of the nearshore and coastal ecosystems. In addition, the Southern California region has one of the largest sewage effluent systems in the country, contributing more than 1 billion gallons of treated wastewater to the ocean daily (OCSD, 2014). USC Sea Grant funded research over the last two decades has examined both the contents and the fate of the urban runoff plumes in local coastal waters, and developed unique technology and partnerships to track these plumes along the coastline. Other research has focused on developing new and rapid methods to test for enteroviruses in coastal waters to facilitate the work of public health and safety authorities.  

Outreach Projects

• Impacts of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria on Surfers in Coastal Waters - participants needed for 2018-2019!
• The California Water and Land Use Partnership (CA WALUP)
• Plastic Marine Debris Report in Partnership with California Ocean Science Trust

Related Research

• High Resolution Remote Sensing of Coastal Discharge Plumes and Algal Blooms in The Southern California Bight (Jones, Fuhrman)
• Stormwater, Pathogens, and Particles – Presence and Transport from an Urban Watershed (Jones, Fuhrman)
• Quantifying Pollutant Loading in an Urban Waterway Using Passive In Situ Samplers (Maruya, Adams)
• California's Coastal Zone Management Program: Retaining Agricultural Land In The Face Of Urban Growth (Osherenko, Clarke)
• Factors Affecting Dispersion Of Pathogenic Microorganisms In Coastal Waters (Jones, Fuhrman)
• Evaluating The Impact Of The Clean Water Act On Coastal Waters off The Southern CA Bight: Temporal & Spatial Gradients in Metal Contamination in the Water Column & in Phytoplankton (Sanudo, Wilhelmy)
• The Effects of Urban Storm water Runoff on Phytoplankton Dynamics in Santa Monica Bay (Shipe)

Educational Resources

• What's the Catch? Curriculum Guide
• Key to the Sea

For more information, contact Juliette Finzi Hart, Marine & Climate Science Specialist, 424.241.2457