Our Accomplishments

Reduced Beach Advisories

San Diego Coastkeeper helped reduce countywide beach advisories by 77 percent since 2000 by securing improved sewage and urban runoff policies and permits, leading to cleaner, safer water and more recreation days per year.

REDUCED BEACH ADVISORIES

Secured Marine Protected Areas

We successfully advocated for adoption of strong marine protected areas (MPAs) in Southern California including Swami’s, which is San Diego County’s largest MPA as a 12.6-square-mile conservation area, and South La Jolla, a set of MPAs totaling 7.5-square-miles, including a 4.7-square-mile reserve where marine wildlife enjoys full protection.

 

SECURED MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

Limited Ocean-Polluting Plastic Products

Our advocacy team regularly engages the City of San Diego to restrict regional use of environmentally damaging single-use plastic products. We played an instrumental role in securing the nation’s first statewide plastic bag ban, and more recently, we advocated for a ban limiting the use of pervasive, environmentally damaging plastic foam in San Diego.

LIMITED OCEAN-POLLUTING PLASTIC PRODUCTS

Supported Regional Partners To Advance Education And Restoration Projects Countywide

Through our legal and advocacy work we have been able to direct hundreds of thousands of dollars to partner organizations throughout San Diego County, including San Diego Audubon, San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, Preserve Calavera, and Ocean Connectors. The funding we’ve been able to direct to these organizations has supported their education and science programs as well as on-the-ground restoration work, fostering greater partnerships and compounding opportunities to collaborate to protect our waters.

SUPPORTED REGIONAL PARTNERS TO ADVANCE EDUCATION AND RESTORATION PROJECTS COUNTYWIDE

Cleaned Beaches And Prevented Marine Debris

San Diego Coastkeeper and partner organizations have removed more than one million pounds of debris from area beaches and waterways. Since 2007, we have completed more than 200 beach cleanups and grown our yearly volunteer participation numbers to over 7,000.

CLEANED BEACHES AND PREVENTED MARINE DEBRIS

Brought Environmental S.T.E.M. Education to Kids

We have provided Project SWELL (Stewardship: Water Education for Lifelong Leadership) hands-on environmental science lessons and materials to over 600 teachers and more than 14,000 elementary and middle school students in San Diego, thanks to a partnership with the City of San Diego and San Diego Unified School District. In 2015, with support from the Port of San Diego, we expanded our reach countywide with Water Education For All, a bilingual curriculum available to formal and informal educators alike, reaching an additional 5,500 students and community members.

BROUGHT ENVIRONMENTAL S.T.E.M. EDUCATION TO KIDS

Improved The Health Of San Diego Bay

After a decade-long fight alongside our allies, we won a regulatory ruling to close the ecosystem-damaging South Bay Power Plant. Our litigation against Southwest Marine, Inc. won important stormwater improvements along the bayfront, and our legal action directed at contaminated sediments lead the Regional Water Quality Control Board to order longtime polluters to conduct a massive cleanup of their toxic pollution at the bottom of San Diego Bay. We also negotiated a $15-million restoration plan with the Port of San Diego to turn the Campbell Shipyard into a thriving ecosystem and fish nursery.

IMPROVED THE HEALTH OF SAN DIEGO BAY

Secured A Promise To Bring Sustainable Recycled Water To The City Of San Diego

We helped establish the Water Reliability Coalition with the aim of uniting diverse interest groups in pursuit of a sustainable water supply in San Diego. We led this coalition to earn a unanimous San Diego City Council vote to reduce ocean discharge from Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and implement a large-scale water recycling system. When fully implemented in 2035, the plant will supply up to one-third of the city’s drinking water needs and will reduce environmentally costly imports from the San Joaquin River Delta and Colorado River.

SECURED A PROMISE TO BRING SUSTAINABLE RECYCLED WATER TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO

Reduced Sewage Spills

A San Diego Coastkeeper lawsuit pushed the City of San Diego to invest $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades, which reduced sewage spills by 90 percent. In 2011, our volunteers identified a 1.9-million gallon sewage spill in Los Peñasquitos Lagoon, and our action resulted in a $12-million infrastructure investment by the City of San Diego to prevent future spills.

REDUCED SEWAGE SPILLS

Ran The State's Largest Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program

San Diego Coastkeeper’s Water Quality Monitoring Program ran from 2008 to 2018, and was the state’s largest volunteer water quality monitoring program. It trained around 100 volunteers annually to test fresh water quality from Oceanside to the Tijuana River, in nine of the 11 watersheds in San Diego County, and generated ten years of high-quality water quality data to support the protection and restoration of local rivers and streams.

RAN THE STATE’S LARGEST VOLUNTEER WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM

Improved Water Quality Throughout Our Region

Since 1995, Coastkeeper’s fearless advocacy and targeted legal action has resulted in dozens of legally binding agreements with public entities including the City of San Diego and Caltrans, and private entities including NASSCO, ensuring practices that improve water quality are utilized, and polluted discharges are curtailed. We have strongly influenced the quality and strength of regional stormwater permits, and in 2013 we achieved the adoption of a unique watershed-based permit that requires cities and agencies in the San Diego region to work together across jurisdictions to reduce pollution.

IMPROVED WATER QUALITY THROUGHOUT OUR REGION