This video premiered at the Long Beach Art Theatre on June 19th, 2010. The film was made to bring attention to the issue of the Long Beach, California breakwater, a 2 mile long artificial reef built to protect U.S. Navy ships from submarines and torpedoes during WWII.
The breakwater has created very poor water quality along the six miles of sand in Long Beach due to the lack of ocean currents to circulate the water. After rain storms, the debris along the beach includes needles, dead dogs and refrigerators and is carted away by large tractors and dump trucks. The beaches remain mostly empty during the busy summer months, and the dirty water makes Long Beach an unattractive beach to visit with the kids.
But there is a solid movement taking place that is aimed to sink the breakwater, thereby improving the water quality in the area and bringing surfable waves back to Long Beach. According to a Long Beach Surfrider Foundation web page, the City of Long Beach spends $300,000 to $500,000 each year to move sand around certain beaches to make up for the lack of tidal action that would normally occur naturally.
At issue with the current Sink the Breakwater movement is a $4 million dollar feasibility study that would be conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers. The study would determine the impact removing the breakwater would have on the Long Beach shoreline. The Long Beach City Council is scheduled to vote on the feasibility study at a June 22, 2010 meeting. There is sure to be a heated debate on the subject over whether taxpayers should pay the $4 million dollar price for the study. I wish I could be there to listen to what transpires, but I am confident knowing that there are many concerned residents that are avidly following this issue.
For more information about the Long Beach Breakwater Study and the Surfrider Foundation’s efforts to clean up the water in Long Beach, visit the Long Beach Surfrider Foundation page, or the City of Long Beach Breakwater page.
A crowded day at Long Beach, before the breakwater removed the wave action.