About
Estuaries:
Insights on the NEPs - Santa
Monica Bay
Santa
Monica Bay continues to confront the pressures that come from
existing adjacent to one of the largest cities in the United
States. Among its top issues: environmental and human health
concerns resulting from polluted stormwater runoff; habitat
loss and degradation; and seafood contamination. However, significant
progress has been made in implementing the Bay Restoration Plan,
and in obtaining much-needed funding to carry out Plan actions.
Thanks to passage of a bond measure on the California statewide
ballot in March 2000, the Santa
Monica Bay Commission (SMBRC)
has secured $25 million to continue its efforts to clean up
the Bay.
Funds
will be allocated through a grant program designed and coordinated
by the SMBRC and awarded to innovative and cost-effective
projects that focus onpollution control and abatement; habitat
restoration; and assessment, monitoring, research and education
programs that implement the Bay Restoration Plan.
Also
on the horizon: the results of the first comprehensive study
to assess the loading of toxic air pollutants to Santa Monica
Bay and its watershed; release of a Marine Habitats and Resources
inventory which includes species summaries, habitat maps and
other features of Santa Monica Bay; and a new pollution prevention
video for recreational boaters.
For more
information on the SMBRC
Citizen's
Report 
Estuary
Fact Cards
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