Heal the Bay

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Heal the Bay is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to making the coastal waters and watersheds of Greater Los Angeles safe, healthy and clean.

To fulfill our mission, we use science, education, community action, and advocacy. 📍Tongva & Chumash lands.

10/31/2026

But hey, we had fun!

Happy Halloween, Angelenos 🎃 stay safe tonight 👻

10/31/2026

Every drop counts💧We need to capture 300,000 acre-feet of NEW stormwater every year to help keep our oceans clean, replenish our water supply, and build healthier communities!

From greener schoolyards and parks, to nature-based solutions and smarter stormwater infrastructure, we have opportunities all around us to make a difference.

Less concrete, less flooding, more water captured, and healthier waterways. Together, we can turn our communities into part of the solution.

10/30/2026

Heal the Bay's Senior Watershed Specialist, Central Santa Monica Bay - Stephanie Gebhardt Rath - had the pleasure of attending today's groundbreaking for the new La Brea Tar Pits transformation, which will feature sustainable stormwater harvesting!

10/30/2026

Discover a sacred place hidden in the heart of Los Angeles 🍃 Tucked away in the middle of our bustling city is Kuruvungna Springs - a breathtaking and sacred site that holds deep cultural, historical, and ecological significance for the Gabrielino-Tongva people - who have stewarded this land since time immemorial. It’s a place of natural beauty and living history that many Angelenos may never even know exists.

Join Heal the Bay's Safe Clean Water Program on November 14, from 9am–noon, for a special Day of Service at Kuruvungna Springs. In collaboration with the Gabrielino-Tongva Foundation, we'll learn about the history of the Sacred Springs, connect with the land, and lend a hand in restoring and caring for this extraordinary place.

Come be part of preserving this important piece of LA's natural and cultural heritage! We'll also be hosting a food drive in support of West Side Food Bank, so bring a donation if you're able 💚

🌳 Kuruvungna Village Springs at 1439 S. Barrington Avenue
☀️ November 14 from 9:00am to 12:00pm
✔ Advance registration required! RSVP at https://healthebay.org/event/day-of-service-at-kuruvungna-springs-with-the-safe-clean-water-program/

10/28/2026

Welcome back to part 2 of Heal the Bay’s Associate Director of Aquarium Operations - Laura Rink - on how warmer ocean temperatures and a projected ‘Super El Niño’ could mean for the microspecies that call our bay home.

Follow along as we explore what these changing ocean conditions mean for our bay, the marine life we’re working to protect, and how you can stay ready!

10/28/2026

✨ Imagine Dockweiler beach... with nothin' but sand! Join us for November's beach cleanup on Saturday the 21st 🪣

With recent rains washing pollution from the streets into our waterways, and El Niño potentially bringing more 🌧️, protecting our coast is especially important right now. Every piece of trash we remove helps keep harmful debris out of our ocean.

🧤 Help us collect community science data, then stick around for a beachside bonfire chat with Emily about reusables, reducing single-use plastic, and how we can build a more sustainable Los Angeles ahead of LA28 ♻️

📍 Dockweiler Beach, Tower 54
🕒 Cleanup: 3–5 PM
🔥 Beach bonfire: 5–6 PM
🎟️ Free and open to all 🩵
🔗 Register and complete your volunteer waiver before arriving!

https://healthebay.org/event/november-nothin-but-sand-beach-clean-up-2/

10/26/2026

The future of Topanga Lagoon is taking shape, and your voice matters — THIS Thursday! As the Topanga Lagoon Restoration Project moves toward its next major design milestone, community input is essential to shaping a healthier, more resilient coast.

Join the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) and project partners for a virtual public meeting to hear the latest updates, explore revised designs, and share your feedback on the future of this important coastal ecosystem.

From coastal wildlife and wetland habitats to public access and shoreline resilience, restoring Topanga Lagoon is an opportunity to support a thriving coastal environment where freshwater, wetlands, and the Pacific Ocean meet.

Heal the Bay has long supported this restoration effort, and we believe science, collaboration, and community voices are essential to meaningful coastal restoration. This meeting is your chance to ask questions and help inform the project’s next steps.

📅 Thursday, October 29, 2026 ⏰ 6-8pm 💻 Virtual public meeting
🔗 RSVP details with our friends at RCD Santa Monica Mountains

The updated designs will address coastal access and trails, the Pacific Coast Highway bridge, visitor and public-safety facilities, and the project’s living shoreline. Join the conversation, share your perspective, and help shape the future of Topanga Lagoon!

10/23/2026

We’re (mostly) millenials here behind the Heal the Bay accounts, and millenials can’t resist a . So today, we’re throwing it back to where Gutter Patrol began in honor of this week’s rainfall!

Back in October 1992, Heal the Bay volunteers hit the streets of L.A. to stencil a simple but powerful reminder on storm drains: “This Drains to the Ocean.”

Working closely with the City of Los Angeles, our volunteers helped stencil 60K of catch basins across the city, connecting communities to the waterways and ocean we all share. Today, the City carries on that work through its storm drain stenciling program, reminding Angelenos that what goes down the drain doesn’t disappear, it flows right into our beautiful Pacific Ocean!

And that message is just as important today 🌧️ With a potential Super El Niño bringing increased rainfall this season, what happens in our neighborhoods matters more than you may realize. Rain can wash trash, pollutants and debris from our streets into storm drains and, ultimately, out to the bay.

No matter where you are in L.A. County, you’re part of a watershed - and you can be part of the solution! Our Start Where You Are campaign is a reminder that protecting the Bay doesn’t have to start at the beach. It starts right outside your door.

🪣 Pick up litter in your neighborhood. 🗑️ Keep trash out of the gutter and storm drains. 💧 Help keep your local streets clear of debris, especially before a storm.

Every small action adds up to a cleaner, healthier neighborhood and ocean. This rainy season, start where you are and help keep our communities and coastlines clean!

10/22/2026

The first non-tropical storm of the rainy season is brewing in the Pacific and is expected to bring measurable rainfall and a chance of thunderstorms to Los Angeles County. Today and tomorrow, we are expected to experience 1-1.5 inches of rainfall, with the heaviest rain expected Wednesday night through Thursday morning.

When it rains 1 inch in L.A., there are around 10 billion gallons of water that run off our streets, parking lots, and rooftops - much of which we are unable to capture and it washes out to the ocean.

Want to help protect our waterways when storms hit? Need to stay informed? Learn how you can support Heal the Bay’s storm response efforts in our stories and on our website.

https://healthebay.my.site.com/form/s/StormResponseTeam?language=en_US

Join Heal the Bay’s Storm Response Team to protect our coastal waters in two impactful ways:

1) Go clean up your local gutters and neighborhood storm drains before this evening’s heavy rain. If you come across infrastructure needs, notify LA County Public Works, LA Sanitation, or call 311.

2) We invite you to lead your own beach cleanup! The best time to pick up debris at the beach is right after the heaviest moment of rain, 30 minutes or so before low tide. For this week’s storm, the low tide hits on Thursday at 1:45pm or Friday at 2:20pm.

Where is the best place to clean? As weather permits, take part in a Storm Response Cleanup by spending 30-60 minutes cleaning up around your neighborhood, nearby outfall, or favorite outdoor space. You don’t have to travel to the beach to keep debris from reaching the bay. Remember, trash removed from the street means less waste will enter the storm drain system, significantly reducing how much trash ends up in the sea.

Focus on removing trash from the intertidal zone, or the area of sand that gets wet from the waves, and near storm drain outfalls. But please remember, do not go in the water! Many pollutants get washed into the Bay along with all the trash during rain events, so stay on shore while you clean.

Be sure to tag us and use so we can see your imapct!

10/20/2026

Angelenos, you may have heard the news, a storm is rolling in this Thursday 🌧️ We welcome the much-needed showers to quench our environment and combat wildfires… but! the first rainfalls (aka the first flush) also impact the health of our local watersheds and beaches. Here is a 5-step guide on getting prepared, no matter where you are in the city, to ensure your home and our collective watersheds stay safe!

For more resources on emergency lines, checking your local conditions, and more, please visit our friends at:
💧 LA County Beaches & Harbors for beach erosion news and helpful alerts.
💧 Call “311” to notify L.A City Public Works or LA Sanitation & Environment | Public Works about infrastructure needs.
💧 Join the Storm Response Team at www.healthebay.org/storm-response-team.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

Address

1444 9th Street
Santa Monica, CA
90401

Telephone

+13104511500

Website

https://healthebay.org/

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