Awards breakfast highlights San Diego Coastkeeper’s 20th anniversary protecting the county’s waters
SAN DIEGO, June 8, 2015 – Today, while overlooking La Jolla’s marine playground from the Birch Aquarium, San Diego Coastkeeper crowned eight Coastal Champions who protect, restore and conserve San Diego County’s water. Coinciding with its 20th anniversary year, Coastkeeper’s 2015 Coastal Champion Awards recognized people, organizations and companies in San Diego County that go the extra mile to protect our inland and coastal waters. The water quality watchdog honored winners in the categories of Runoff Rockstar, Water Wise, Find & Fix, Blue Tech, Marine Conservation, Volunteer of the Year and Lighthouse Lifetime Achievement.
“This year’s Coastal Champions Awards have special significance as we honor two decades of work and what we have accomplished in those years,” said Executive Director Megan Baehrens. “Each honoree exemplifies a long-term commitment to the new water ethic that will lead to sustainable improvement in water quality and conservation in San Diego County.”
This year’s Coastal Champions include:
- Skip and Donna Fry, Lighthouse Lifetime Achievement: for positively impacting our community through decades of leadership in social, civic and environmental communities. Together, they fight for clean water standards in San Diego, raise awareness in the community about the harmful impacts of pollution and live out daily the undeniable joy of playing in a clean ocean.
- Allison Scofield, Volunteer of the Year: for going above and beyond as San Diego Coastkeeper’s dedicated lab volunteer since 2010. At one point making a monthly trip from school at UCLA, she analyzes nutrients and fecal indicator bacteria for San Diego Coastkeeper’s water quality monitoring program.
- Nielsen and Beaumont Marine, Inc., Runoff Rockstar: for designing their boatyard to capture and store stormwater for treatment that eliminates 100% of the runoff that might otherwise pollute San Diego Bay. The NBMI boatyard is the gold standard for runoff prevention, more advanced even than current stormwater regulations.
- Brickman Group, Water Wise: for helping local residents conserve water by creating beautiful landscapes for the community with native, drought resistant plants and water wise irrigation controls. This is especially important during California’s water crisis.
- Ocean Discovery Institute, Marine Conservation: for more than a decade educating thousands of students about science and conservation, training teachers and engaging volunteers to help restore local habitats.
- John W. Stump, Find & Fix: for alerting the community and media about harmful debris polluting water in Chollas Creek. This action had an immediate response from the City of San Diego, which removed the pollution and built barriers to mitigate future runoff pollution.
- ECOLIFE Conservation, Blue Tech: for developing and teaching aquaponic systems, a sustainable farming technique combining aquaculture and hydroponic farming. These aquaponic systems allow individuals to cultivate fresh, organic produce and fish while only using ten percent of the land and water of traditional farming.
For more information about the winners, please click here. For more information about San Diego Coastkeeper, please visit localhost/sdcoastkeeper.
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SAN DIEGO COASTKEEPER
Founded in 1995, San Diego Coastkeeper protects the region’s bays, beaches, watersheds and ocean for the people and wildlife that depend on them. We balance community outreach, education, and advocacy to promote stewardship of clean water and a healthy coastal ecosystem. For more information, visit San Diego Coastkeeper online at https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org.
