Multiple truckloads of sediment head to the Carpinteria shores in an emergency response after recent storms

CARPINTERIA, Calif. - After the recent storms tons of sediment from debris basins in the hills are now going by truck to Carpinteria's City beach.

Santa Barbara County Public Works Environmental Manager Andrew Raaf, "and this project is at its core  an emergency operation to clear the basins and to make sure the community is prepared for future storms ."

This is similar to what is happening at Goleta, but in Carpinteria the multiple truck trips are going through the city to get to this dumping spot.

The city and the county public works department are making sure the impacts are reduced in part by using a street sweeper to keep the dirt and dust down on the route through the beach town.

Aerial shots from the county show just how much came down and how high it piled up in
Arroyo Paredon basin, Santa Monica basin and Gubernador basin.

Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Director Matt Roberts said, "over the last 50 years since the installations of flood control basins up in our watersheds, all those course sediments have been intercepted put into dump trucks and exported to upland disposal sites when nature had always intended it to come to the shoreline to add resilience and volume of sediment to protect the back shore from erosion and storms."

The soil is being tested along the way to make sure it is safe for this environment.

Bringing all this sediment down at once will not only replenish Carpinteria beach but beaches nearby as well that have been scoured back by the strength of the recent storms.

The current condition of the beach  worries some residents.

Virginia Holihan walks daily and said, "all the sands gone, (look at) all the logs. I don't know how they are going to get rid of all the logs."

The 14-year resident  says before the storms "it was beautiful sand and not a lot of rocks. Gorgeous."  Now Holihan says,  "It's sad.  A disaster, and they're sharp rocks they are not beach rocks their mountain rocks."

If this project is not done now Raaf said,  "those debris basins can lose their effectiveness at preventing flood and debris downstream. It's mid January and the debris basins are full and we have a whole winter storm season ahead of us."

In a massive flood event in 1969, the city did not have the large debris basins in place now, and the area had significant damage to homes and businesses including agricultural land.