For water-loving surfers, swimmers and divers, the rainy season indicates increasingly limited time in the surf. But for San Diego Coastkeeper, it’s an ideal time to measure humanity’s impact on our creeks, streams and oceans. “The rain actually brings all of the pollutants off the ground, so we get to measure what’s been sitting around on the land and is finally getting into our water,” said Adrian Kinnane, Coastkeeper’s “watershed captain” for the La Jolla area. Kinnane, a principal figure involved in keeping La Jolla waters in check, takes a team of volunteers out once a month to test the Los Penasquitos watershed, which covers approximately 100 square miles of densely populated areas in San Diego, Poway and Del Mar, and empties directly into the Los Penasquitos Lagoon and Marsh off of North Torrey Pines Road. During a storm, nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and other pollutants that seep into the ground via pesticides, fertilizers, vehicle fluids and pet waste wash out of our yards and gutters, flow into our watersheds, and eventually find their way into our oceans. Kinnane’s most recent sampling from the La Jolla area, collected Nov. 20, indicated that levels of E. coli, nitrates and ammonia were higher than normal, possibly due to the rain. There were, however, healthy levels of dissolved oxygen and “middle-of-the-road” numbers for pH and conductivity, figures that Kinnane said are “not terrible.” “It’s not necessarily a representative sample [of normal levels], but it is representative of what the water is like when it rains,” he said. Water quality during the rainy season is less than desirable. According to Kinnane and Travis Pritchard, Water Quality Lab Coordinator for San Diego Coastkeeper, rainwater carries bacteria that can seriously threaten the health of humans and wildlife. Residents can, however, do their part to stop pollutants from running into our oceans by keeping an eye on personal water use, such as cutting off overactive sprinklers. “Urban runoff is a major source of E. coli and enterrococci in the water,” Pritchard said. “Minimizing that will help keep our beaches open and healthy.” Coastkeeper submits monthly results to the San Diego Water Quality Control Board, which uses the data to monitor “impaired waterways,” or bodies of water that have significant levels of pollutants. Jo Ann Weber, water quality program coordinator for the Department of Public Works, said that although the data Coastkeeper provides has no bearing on the number of tests the county is required to conduct, the information does help to “prioritize where we put our efforts.” Weber said because of limited funding, the county runs tests on watershed areas roughly once or twice per year. This testing is unrelated to state-mandated beach water testing conducted weekly by the Department of Environmental Health from April through October. County advisories state that surfers and swimmers should not enter the water for 72 hours after a rainstorm, and Kinnane can attest to the need for such a warning. He said while surfing north of Pacific Beach one day, he got caught in a rainstorm. Knowing he shouldn’t be in the water for long, he decided to pack it in after about 15 minutes. “By the time I got within 30 yards of the shore, the water was brown, putrid; it smelled like sewage,” he said. “The reason for that is that there’s a huge concrete gutter at Tourmaline Surfing Park, and during a heavy rain, the untreated rainwater gathers and just runs right down onto the beach, and it includes everything from dog and cat poop to trash. It’s really pretty filthy. “If the water isn’t healthy for the people, then it’s not healthy for the wildlife, and if it’s not healthy for the wildlife then it’s not healthy for the people,” said Kinnane. “And who doesn’t want to see thriving, beautiful wetlands?” Go to www.sdwatersheds.org to see monthly testing results as well as the current condition of local beaches.