On the 9th day of October, Santa Monica encountered the first flush of the year. This was surprising because the amount of rain indicated a gurgle rather than a flush. When we realized that it was the First Flush we sent a crew down to the beach to do an emergency clean up. When we arrived at the Pico-Kenter storm drain, we were disturbed by the debris of human pollutants. Coffee cups, plastic bottles, and tennis balls were only some of the objects in a stream of potentially toxic foam and slime that led straight for the ocean. We also noticed that the morning after there was a new trash collecting vehicle that was roaming the surface of the sand. This was really cool despite the fact that it was necessary. We are expecting to have a second flush that will carry the rest of the debris (considering the amount of rain was too little) to completely flush the storm drains of sand. Team Marine is currently on standby until the second flush occurs.
We would also like to acknowledge Matthew King and Meredith McCarthy from Heal the Bay for notifying us of this year’s flush.
Heal the Bay Blog on the First Flush: http://www.healthebay.
Also, check out this First Flush video below:
