Waterkeepers and Alliances

Waterkeeper Alliance
San Diego Coastkeeper is part of the international Waterkeeper Alliance. The Waterkeeper Alliance connects and supports local Waterkeeper organizations to provide a voice for waterways and their communities worldwide. To champion clean water and strong communities, Waterkeeper Alliance:

• Supports and empowers member Waterkeeper organizations to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality;
• Promotes the Waterkeeper model for watershed protection worldwide; and
• Advocates for issues common to Waterkeeper organizations.

California Coastkeeper Alliance
Founded in 1999, California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA) is a non-profit organization that coordinates, supports and enhances the work of local California Waterkeeper organizations to ensure Californians enjoy clean water and a healthy coast.  CCKA began as coalition of Southern California Waterkeepers, and it has since expanded along the entire coast, up to the Oregon border. CCKA  and its member Waterkeeper organizations represent the only statewide, local partnership focused on the health of the state's waters and coastal ecosystems. Coordinating on-the-ground work at the community level with policy work at the statewide level, CCKA protects and expands upon the advances made by place-based Waterkeeper organizations by advocating before state decisionmakers on water-related issues important to California’s communities.

California Coastkeeper's executive director works closely with Waterkeeper organizations in San Diego, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Orange County, the Russian River, Monterey, Inland Empire, Humboldt and Klamath to implement regional outreach, education and advocacy campaigns.

San Diego Bay Council
San Diego Bay Council is coalition of environmental organizations dedicated to the protection and restoration of regional coastal waters in the San Diego region. Member organizations, representing 22,000 San Diegans, act through community involvement, regulatory participation and legal action to ensure the protection and restoration of San Diego Bay, Mission Bay and the region's coastal waters. The Bay Council concept grew out of the successful collaboration between many of the current member organizations to establish the South Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The Bay Council was formally launched in its present form in August 1999 to:

• Provide a forum for member organizations to target policy issues we can jointly work on;
• Operate as a clearinghouse to share information and better coordinate activities;
• Build capacity and effectiveness of member organizations; and
• Allow member organizations to be more proactive in addressing clean water issues.

Member organizations include:
San Diego Coastkeeper
Environmental Health Coalition
The Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Chapter
San Diego Audubon Society
Sierra Club, San Diego Chapter