Organizations joined forces during today’s First Light Swim to celebrate San Diego’s clean waters
SAN DIEGO, July 25, 2014 – It’s never too early to celebrate Swimmable Day. That’s why staff and members of San Diego Coastkeeper and Tri Club San Diego jumped into the Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) at La Jolla Cove today at 6:30 a.m. The clean water advocates and triathlon training club joined to celebrate July 25 — national Swimmable Day — with a morning buoy swim and a swim cap giveaway.
“San Diego is known around the world for its swimmable waters. Triathletes flock to this area to train and race. People also visit—and boost our local economy– to swim, surf, kayak, boat, fish, stand-up paddleboard, dive or simply play in the lakes, rivers and ocean waves,” said Megan Baehrens, San Diego Coastkeeper executive director. “Swimmable Day gives us a chance to celebrate the clean waters that are a monumental part of our culture and economy and an opportunity to remember that we still have work to do to restore our local waters.”
La Jolla Cove is one of California’s 34 declared Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS). To protect the ocean and maintain water quality within some of the most pristine and biologically unique sections of California’s coast, the state created ASBS and required that they be protected from runoff pollution. In San Diego, the state designated two ASBS in the La Shores/Scripps area.
Unfortunately, water that flows over man-made services in San Diego County’s densely populated areas drains directly to into natural waterways, creating San Diego’s number one water pollution problem. Using its 2013 inland water quality data, Coastkeeper’s water quality scores for nine of the region’s 11 watersheds rank most fair or marginal.
To bring more awareness to these issues while celebrating our waters on Swimmable Day, Coastkeeper is also hosting an Instagram contest, which ends today. For several weeks, Instagram users have tagged their photos with #SwimmableSD and #SwimmableCA to win a #SwimmableSD prize pack. Coastkeeper will post the winners on its blog next week.
For more information on Swimmable Day, the Instagram contest and how to support Coastkeeper’s work, please visit http:localhost/sdcoastkeeper.
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SAN DIEGO COASTKEEPER: Founded in 1995, San Diego Coastkeeper protects and restores fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters in San Diego County. Visit us online at https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org
