December 7, 2023
REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) Division III Director Desi Alvarez presented a $9,000 check to members of the South Bay Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and youth volunteers on December 3 in ongoing support of their Teach and Test Program, a volunteer high school water-quality monitoring project for the Santa Monica Bay.
The District has been the program sponsor since 2006, providing annual funding to supply program equipment, materials, and lab technician services.
The South Bay Chapter’s Teach and Test Program is part of Surfrider Foundation’s Blue Water Task Force, a volunteer-run water testing, education, and advocacy program that introduces high school students to water quality and supply issues. It also exposes them to environmental science careers and supports both West Basin’s and the community’s effort to monitor and protect the health of the local watershed.
Supervised by Surfrider Foundation volunteers, students from South Bay area high schools collect water samples every other Sunday from October through May to prepare and analyze at an outdoor laboratory hosted by Dive n’ Surf in Redondo Beach. At the end of the year, school teams are required to conduct a final presentation that connects the project findings to other environmentally-sustainable efforts around the Santa Monica Bay.
Click here for more information about the program.
At the Dive N’ Surf in Redondo Beach on Dec. 3, Surfrider Foundation, South Bay Chapter members and youth volunteers received a $9,000 sponsorship check from the West Basin Municipal Water District in support of Surfrider’s Teach & Test program.
West Basin Division III Director Desi Alvarez (2nd from left), alongside West Basin Education Coordinator Janel Ancayan, presented a check to Teach & Test Chair Mary Simun (3rd from left). (Photo courtesy: West Basin)
