SANTA MONICA—On Tuesday, November 15, the Santa Monica City Council approved an ordinance to prohibit the distribution of food to birds and animals at beaches and at the Santa Monica Pier.
The city of Santa Monica indicated in a press release that the ordinance update looks to improve water quality around the Pier and increase efforts to address bacterial levels in the Santa Monica Bay, which were noted in the Heal the Bay Beach Report Card.
The goal is to decrease bacterial pollution. Earlier in the year, the city of Santa Monica installed netting under the SM Pier to dissuade pigeon roosting and nesting.
Other efforts to address water quality in the Santa Monica Bay include the 2018 Clean Beaches Project, which captures urban runoff and rainwater from the nearby downtown area and diverts it to a 1.6-million-gallon cistern adjacent to the Pier.
The Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP), which was completed in 2022, also captures storm water, diverting urban runoff and storm water pollution away from the Santa Monica Bay. For more details on the ordinance, view the staff report, or watch the most recent Santa Monica City Council meeting.
