Environment

Keeping Copper Out Of San Diego Bay

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published January 5, 2010 at 12:05 PM PST

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

A new list from the state Water Resources Control Board shows several bodies of water in San Diego County are severely polluted, including parts of San Diego Bay.

Keeping Copper Out Of San Diego Bay

The Port of San Diego wants to eliminate the use of copper-based paint on the hulls of recreational boats in San Diego Bay. The goal is to reduce harm to marine life.

Copper-based paints are used to prevent the buildup of marine growth on the hulls of recreational boats, but the copper also leeches into the water. Too much copper in water has been found to damage marine life.

The Board of Port Commissioners passed a resolution last month supporting ongoing research to find non-toxic hull paint alternatives to replace the copper.

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"And that's what we're challenging all of the coating suppliers with right now is to find some alternatives that work not by incorporating a kind of toxic ingredient," said Karen Holman, who is with the Port of San Diego's Environmental Services Department.

She said the Port District received a $190,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 to identify non-toxic alternatives to copper-based hull coatings.

Holman said the primary tasks include testing alternative coatings on panels and on boat hulls.

She said Phase One of the study, the panel testing, was conducted during the summer of 2008 and has been completed. Boat hull testing, or Phase Two, started in April 2009 to and ends next December.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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