Site CG1: Cieneguitas Creek at Nogal Road
An excerpt from Goleta Stream Team Newsletter Vol. 3 (April 2004)

Where is it?

Site CG1 is located on Cieneguitas Creek, where the creek crosses under Nogal Road. To get there, take Hollister Avenue towards Santa Barbara. Just before Hollister splits with Modoc, turn right onto Nogal Rd. Drive a short distance until you come to a bridge and bike path crossing. Park on the left hand side, in the dirt pullout. Cross the bridge, and head down the bank to the creek. Be careful, as this slope is steep and often slippery!

What is unique about this site?

Site CG1 is our uppermost site on the Atascadero Creek watershed. Cieneguitas drains urban runoff from the Upper State Street / Foothill Road area. Downstream from this site, Cieneguitas Creek joins with Atascadero Creek. The site itself is located in a residential area, and right next door to this site is a horse stable area. As a result, we often see high bacteria levels and notice unpleasant odors here!

Results at this site:

Water quality at CG1 is often poor compared to other Goleta Stream Team sites. This is due to the fact that most of Cieneguitas Creek’s flow is composed of runoff from urban and residential areas. Bacteria results fail “healthy” standards roughly half of the time: in the last 2 years of Goleta Stream Team sampling, 41% of Total Coliform tests failed, 50% of E. Coli tests failed, and 55% of Enterococcus tests failed.

Results for other parameters are as follows:
pH is almost always within normal ranges, with the exception of one very high reading (8.97) in July of 2003. Dissolved oxygen varies greatly, with readings as low as 5.07 mg/L and as high as 15.61 mg/L. Conductivity
ranges from medium to high: our lowest reading was 1439 mS, and our highest reading was 2420 mS. Temperature readings are often on the higher end, and we have seen readings in “unsafe” ranges (greater than
22ºC) on six occasions. Turbidity levels are often higher here than at other sites, but are still usually within normal ranges.