Heal the Ocean Inc

“The heal the ocean board of directors reviews a draft of form 990 before finalized for submittal.”

“Conflict of interest policy and confidentiality policy - if there is concern about a conflict of interest or the possibility of a conflict, the board investigates the issue and takes appropriate corrective action, up to and including a request to resign or dismissal from the board.”

“The full board of directors reviews and approves executive compensation.”

“Governing documents, 990 and financial statements are all available to the public upon request.”

“Continuation of program descriptions: ii. Upgrading wastewater to recycled water: e) coastal wastewater discharge. Heal the ocean released a study of coastal wastewater discharges in september 2018. The inventory of municipal wastewater discharges to california coastal water bodies, an online interactive study that documents the 417 billion gallons of treated municipal wastewater discharged at fifty-seven coastal locations. The study, led by project manager james hawkins, mpp, involved a multiyear effort to collect, review, and analyze publicly available data to determine the total volume of treated municipal effluent discharged to california's coastal water bodies. Heal the ocean estimates that the reuse of 85 percent of these coastal discharges could meet almost 30 percent of water needs for california's coastal cities. In the spirit of transparency and to help advance the state's water policy efforts, heal the ocean released its database of dischargers and flow data that forms the basis of the study. D) brine waste. In 2017 heal the ocean published a white paper on brine waste ("issues, disposal, and reduction") which lays out the biggest problem of 100% recycling - the leftover sludge from desalination and water recycling. The brine waste paper presents information on how brine waste is created and the problems of disposal, and also tells how homeowners can do their part to reduce brine (don't use water softeners, which add tons of chloride salts to the wastewater stream). In 2018 this informational publication was circulated to recycled water agencies. In 2019 heal the ocean continued its update of the california inventory, which is ongoing in 2020. Iii. Groundwater. A) groundwater characterization project: on january 26, 2017, the central coast regional water quality control board adopted a resolution for "the human right to water," a program that directs its staff to assist the state water board and relevant stakeholders to collect data to identify and track communities that do not have, or are at risk of not having, safe, clean affordable, and accessible water adequate for human use. In april 2017 heal the ocean hired cal poly student riley haas to work with the regional board, at regional board offices in san luis obispo, on a groundwater characterization project that is identifying and evaluating shallow groundwater quality data in santa barbara county in order to assess pollution sources the report was released by the regional board in 2019. B) contaminated groundwater cleanup - city of santa barbara. Heal the ocean collaborates with the santa barbara county environmental health services site mitigation unit (smu) to tackle the contaminated groundwater problem beneath the city of santa barbara. We collaborated with santa barbara county hazmat and the regional water quality control board hazmat section to organize information into the state's geotracker database, which has made it possible for the regional board to methodically prioritize sites for cleanup. The cleanup orders continue to come in, heal the ocean is copied on these orders, and in 2018 there were over 7 cleanup orders issued in the city of santa barbara for various groundwater and soil pollution violations. Iv. Onshore pollution a) oil pollution (ocean dumping) i) becker well. On february 26, 2018, a barge from curtin maritime, long beach, arrived to the coastline to cap the leaking becker well on summerland beach. Heal the ocean had succeeded in lobbying for the $1.5 million to do the construction work. Heal the ocean also successfully lobbied to get sb 44 (hannah-beth jackson) passed, which will provide $2 million per year to tackle leaking, derelict wells and structures along the california coast. To prepare for specific projects, and with funds provided by manitou fund, minnesota, heal the ocean hired aqueos, ventura, to conduct an aerial survey of the wells offshore summerland. The results of the aerial survey identified four distinct wells, and he”

“Continuation of program descriptions: v. Beach cleanups: a) ef international beach cleanup. Heal the ocean runs a voluntary beach cleanup program, wherein students can sign up for a beach to clean, under supervision of their teachers, receive a free heal the ocean t-shirt, then clean a beach and report to us what they pick up. These reports are published in heal the ocean newsletters and e-letters. In 2019 heal the ocean collaborated for the 4th year in a row with ef international language school in a massive cleanup of 10 beaches between goleta and summerland. The entire student body (350 beach cleaners) tackled the project in april 2019, as part of ef international's "every day is earth day" campaign. To reduce the amount of waste produced, heal the ocean and la cumbre feed (a local animal feed store) partnered to collect and reuse horse feed bags for beach cleanups rather than single use plastic trash bags. Heal the ocean collected and reused over 300 horse feed bags for beach cleanups in 2019. In 2019, heal the ocean also brought into the ef international beach cleanup program other organizations working on the same day in both hawaii (oahu) and san diego. Vi. Dog bag program: a) heal the ocean raised $30,000 in 2019 to send to both the county and city of santa barbara to pay for dog bags that are dispensed in county/city dog bag dispensers. We raised these funds entirely through our dispenser sponsorship program and from direct doggy bag donations through our website.”