Street Sweeping

The City of Goleta’s Street Sweeping program is integral to keeping our streets clean and free of trash and debris. Street sweeping helps remove debris from the gutter and roadsides that would otherwise go into storm drains, causing water pollution. Street sweeping helps keep our community clean, which in turn promotes public health and safety. The City is responsible for street sweeping the eastern portion of the City. The eastern portion has been has been divided into zones for street sweeping purposes. The western portion of the City is currently swept by the Goleta West Sanitary District.

Mutt Mitt Program

Did you know one gram of dog waste contains millions of bacteria and can lead to beach closures? Pet waste presents a serious problem in our City and County. It’s one of the largest sources of water pollution. Keep your pets healthy by picking up pet waste in your backyard before each storm and whenever you’re out and about. The City of Goleta’s Mutt Mitt Pet Waste Program works to address the issue of bacteria in streams from pet waste. City staff maintains 24 mutt mitt stations located at City maintained parks and open spaces, and along bike paths and walking trails. City staff dispenses approximately 1 box containing 3,200 mitts, per week, to the City’s mutt mitt stations, or over 166,000 mitts annually.  Picking up after your dog and tossing it in the trash protects our community’s health and our environment. Learn more about our Close the Poop Loop campaign.

Creek Cleanups

City of Goleta staff regularly encounter sources of pollution in and around local creeks whether during regular creek cleanups or reported by local citizens. These include discharges from pipes, green waste piles, horse manure piles, dog waste, littering, homeless encampments, and graffiti waste (spray cans, rollers, latex gloves, paint, etc.). City of Goleta staff work to remove these sources of pollution from our creeks immediately. On other occasions, the proper County department (e.g., Police, Fire) is alerted to the presence of the water pollution and asked to assist the City of Goleta in cleanups.

Facilities Maintenance

The City of Goleta works hard to maintain our facilities in order to protect water quality. This includes cleaning and maintaining stormwater infrastructure, maintaining our City facilities, pollution prevention for operations and maintenance activities, training staff, reviewing standard operating procedures, landscape design and maintenance, and more.

Full Trash Capture

Trash is an issue in watersheds, and the City of Goleta is committed to the goal of full trash capture, in order to prevent any trash from entering our watersheds. Sources of trash include littering and dumping, and this trash can make its way through the storm drain system, into creeks, and eventually into the ocean, as rain storms wash it down the drain. Types of trash that are problems in the ocean and creeks included cigarette butts, paper, fast food containers, plastic grocery bags, cans, and microplastics. All of these contribute to the “plastic ocean,” a term used to describe the large amounts of trash worldwide that has made its way into the ocean. Trash injures wildlife through ingestion and entanglement, disperses invasive species, endangers public health, concentrates toxic pollutants, and decreases aesthetics. The City of Goleta is committed to reducing trash in our communities and preventing trash from entering our creeks and the ocean. The City of Goleta will do this by installing full trash capture devices in storm drains, as well as working to reduce single-use plastics and Styrofoam, street sweeping, education and outreach through local campaigns & programs, and on-land and creek cleanups.

To better understand the specific pollutants impacting water quality within City creeks, water quality monitoring, analysis and reporting is completed through partnerships with Santa Barbara County’s Project Clean Water and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper (SBCK). SBCK Stream Team citizen science program (Stream Team) conducts monthly water monitoring. Data collected by the Stream Team is evaluated on an ongoing basis to inform important pollution prevention programs and water resource management decisions. There are 25 monitoring sites that are sampled by the Stream Team within City creeks on a monthly basis. 

In addition to the monthly SBCK data, the City also collects dry weather flow sampling. This sampling is conducted in order to further help evaluate potential non-stormwater sources of dry weather flows and pollution. Additionally, the City of Goleta participates in a regional monitoring program, where sampling is conducted during rain events. The purpose of this is to evaluate pollutant loads in different land use areas (industrial, residential, etc.) during rain events. The monitoring data is used to assess the effectiveness of the City's stormwater program. Additionally, the City will often conduct sampling if it is suspected that an illicit discharge has made its way to our storm drain system.” 

Coastal Clean-Up Day is an annual event, usually in September, where communities across the world come together to protect our coasts by cleaning up neighborhoods or natural areas. The most recent event was held on September 18, 2021. The City of Goleta partners with the County of Santa Barbara, Explore Ecology, and other local jurisdictions to clean up our favorite beaches and open spaces. For the most up-to-date information, visit the Explore Ecology website at https://exploreecology.org. 

The Santa Barbara South Coast’s Creek Week, an annual celebration of our creeks, watersheds, and the ocean, usually takes place in September. In 2021 it was from September 18-25. During Creek Week, the community is encouraged to join in the fun and educational opportunities that are available. Many local organizations host events to help build awareness and stewardship of the natural treasures of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria. 

Visit the Creek Week website for the most up-to-date information and schedule.

Celebrate Mother Nature at the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival in Alameda Park in July. As one of the country’s longest-running Earth Day celebrations, the festival’s mission is to educate, inspire and take action. It’s a great opportunity to enjoy live music and entertainment, participate in family activities and connect with more than 200 eco-conscious businesses and organizations. Be sure to stop by the City of Goleta booth! 

“Get involved! Volunteer to help clean up pollution before it gets into our creeks and the ocean.   

School Education

The City of Goleta partners with Explore Ecology, a local non-profit organization, to provide water quality education programs to school children attending public and private schools, summer camps, and after-school programs within the City of Goleta. All lessons are correlated to the State Curriculum Standards by grade level. Engage your students in learning about water pollution through hands-on activities and field trips.

The City is a participating agency in the Green Business Program of Santa Barbara County.  This Program offers incentives and assistance to encourage businesses to implement voluntary actions to protect, preserve, and improve the environment beyond what current laws require.  Businesses meeting these criteria can be certified as green businesses. The Green Business Program provides resources, and assistance to businesses wanting to be green Certifies businesses through on-site visits and evaluations, and highlights certified businesses so that local consumers can shop green.

• Water Wise, the water conservation website for Santa Barbara County 
• Goleta Water District

• Construction Industry’s Guide to BMPs (English)
• Construction Industry’s Guide to BMPs (Spanish)
• Green Business Program
• Mobile Cleaner’s Guide to BMPs (English)
• Mobile Cleaner’s Guide to BMPs (Spanish)
• Mobile Pet Groomer’s Guide to BMPs (English & Spanish)
• Restaurant’s Guide to BMPs (English)
• Restaurant’s Guide to BMPs (Spanish)
• Special Events Guide to BMPs (English)
• Special Events Guide to BMPs (Spanish)

• Identify Pests
• Gardener’s Guide to Clean Water (English)
• Gardener’s Guide to Clean Water (Spanish)

Our Water Our World

• Creek and Watershed Management Plan
  
• Storm Drain Facility Maps for the City of Goleta
• Storm Water Management Program
• Construction Application Documents
• County-Wide Integrated Stormwater Resource Plan
• SWRCB Phase II Small MS4 Program
• California Stormwater Quality Association (CASQA)
• Caltrans Protect Every Drop
• Central Coast RWQCB - Stormwater for Kids
• Less is More
• Our Water Our World
• Santa Barbara County Project Clean Water
• Santa Barbara County Water Wise Brochures
• Street Sweeping Information
• Water Conservation

• Groundwater Resources (DWR)
• Local Groundwater information (GWD)
• Regional groundwater quality (RWQCB)/Geotracker