Everybody knows that dirty creeks pollute the ocean during storms. But why is the Santa Barbara surf sometimes unsafe for swimming in summer, when no creeks are running?

Citizens’ groups have long suggested that the city’s aging sewer system was leaking into the ground water and travelling underground into the surf. Preliminary results from a soon-to-be-finished study suggest that the real culprit might be shorebirds.

Fire chiefs and scientists are sounding the alarm that tinder-dry brush, high winds and high temperatures could spell disaster this summer. People should not be lulled into a false sense of security, they say.

“I think July is going to come in like a lion,” said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “We’re set up for the perfect summer firestorm.”

Arroyo Burro Beach is one of 10 seashores across California to be labeled a "beach bummer" by a group that tracks water quality at beaches. Refugio State Beach and the area of East Beach by Mission Creek also fared poorly in this year's Beach Report Card, released by the Santa Monica-based nonprofit Heal the Bay. The group said Wednesday that water quality at Santa Barbara County beaches during the busy summer months "declined dramatically" this past year.

Taking a big step for steelhead restoration in Mission Creek, the City Council on Tuesday agreed to dedicate $335,000 in grant funds to a study of how to remove the concrete bottom along a mile of the stream between Canon Perdido and Arrellaga streets.