Urban Pollution Runoff

my own a creek in west la groups are diving for lights at algae ducks girls reads a couple of pelicans are also hovering in them watered toxicologist they takes in this scene and you walked history to see you know thousands of styrofoam cups you can see several years right where we are from the last rain storms little plastic styrofoam pecking colored so there's a shopping cart stranded in the way up there they says all the plastic and trashed it washes down our storm drains is not only an aesthetic problem but also a health hazard for marine animals that often mistaken it's a mistake for the plankton me some cases in some areas there's just as much letter out there is this iconic dance defied a glam of light and there's a glamour later in that same area they as with the southern california coastal water research project and while he's concerned about everything that's ending up in local waterways most of his work on urban runoff is focused on threats you can see

pesticides bacteria and metals like copper and zinc which obey says you can find just about everywhere from galvanized fencing to your car fires contain zinc is part of the compound like linings have a substantial quantity using spears significant amounts of zinc on finer particles that settle on the ground and let's say we think the large portion of that does come from just wear and tear of course and just normal everyday activities and things that we do to contain zinc is they wear some imitations of them are in that water in by on a creek can get so toxic that intense done and steve days laboratory it's killed the embryos and young and sensitive species like sea urchins and tiny crustaceans at the base of the food chain research done it by own and other local wetlands has found that native fish don't grow as much in more polluted areas they says all that is reason for concern but the

broader implications are clear because there are so many unknowns the studies that we've done have only used maybe seven or eight different species out of the five thousand or so that we can find in some of california's water also researchers know that there will be a toxic bloom in the ocean off of bionic creek after it rains but they don't really know what happens when a disperse is and what it means to animals that i continually expose richard ambrose is a biologist at ucla we know a lot about what's in the the runoff here and we know it's toxic and tom what's a much more difficult promise to try to figure out what the effects are actually the animals that are living here say can see there's a whole lot of birds here and there they're swimming and diving in amongst this toxic soup and they're probably doing ok still ambrose suspects that pollution is part of the reason that some aquatic a marine species are no longer abundant along the coast

their summit of vertebrates like clams and go shrimp and fiddler crabs that we don't find very commonly around and even thirty or thirty years ago people would find more of thousands of those apparently creeps over sensitive ambrose says the picture is complicated by other factors like the large number of people collecting and trampling coastal organisms he says a better understanding of how much damage is done by pollution is essential for biologists working to restore damaged wetlands and other ecosystems by way of example ambrose takes as a mile downstream to a portion of by ana weapons that slated for restoration to restore this marsh used to bring in more time but when that water comes back and it's going to bring in the contaminated urban runoff within the marsh is already polluted by runoff from nearby neighborhoods ambrose says because the area has been degraded for so long it's hard to know what by ana would be like without pollution and how clean it would need to

be for restoration to succeed pollution would also be one of a couple of barriers for conservationists who hope to reintroduce steelhead trout into the la river our final stop on the tour is the mouth of bionic creek a willett which is a grey brown sand piper is feeding on mussels attached to rocks at the water's edge is it safe to go down maybe by today's mussels and afterward nadia discuss us now listen listen to really unsafe place for him and seek but of course her the state has issued advisories about fish consumption in some parts of santa monica bay but it says the reason for the warnings are primarily because of historic pollution such as ddt not pollution and run off the main human health concern from runoff as exposure to bacteria and viruses when people swim or surf in the water after a storm last month the state water officials approved new measures to combat urban runoff in la county the new rules require cities to play a bigger role in policing sources of contamination

and local officials will now have to conduct more tests to help pinpoint where most of the pollution is entering local storm drains and rivers for kpcc news i'm elsa set sail in playa del rey