Activist Spotlight: Kyle Leftridge —SF Blue Water Task Force Co-Lead

All photos thanks to Guru Khalsa @gurufoto, https://gurufoto.smugmug.com/

Kyle Leftridge is the co-lead of the San Francisco Chapter's Blue Water Task Force, Surfrider's volunteer-run water quality testing program, and for him, the ocean has always been home. Growing up in the Outer Sunset, right across the street from Ocean Beach, meant a childhood spent surfing and exploring the Northern California coast — and an adulthood spent finding a way to protect it.

What is your current role with the Surfrider Foundation? 

I co-lead the San Francisco Chapter's Blue Water Task Force, Surfrider's volunteer-run water quality testing program. 

When and why did you get involved? 

I first started volunteering with Surfrider back in the early 2010s, but I moved away from the ocean for a while before returning to it in late 2024. I grew up in the Outer Sunset, right across the street from Ocean Beach, and spent so much of my time in the water — surfing and exploring the Northern California coast. The ocean became pretty central to my sense of self, and it's a big part of why San Francisco feels like home. Getting back involved with Surfrider to help protect future generations' access to that same experience felt like an obvious decision — with the added bonus of getting to know a bunch of cool San Franciscans who share that love of the ocean and want to do the same.

Kyle sampling the water at Ocean Beach, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa

What are some local issues affecting your ocean, waves, and beaches?

One of our primary focuses in the San Francisco Chapter's Blue Water Task Force is the bacterial water quality issues we experience after rainfall. San Francisco faces a challenge that's unique among California's coastal cities because of our combined sewer system — and it's something a lot of San Franciscans don't even know about. Our sewer system combines rainfall runoff with sewage, sending both through the same pipes and tanks on the way to our wastewater treatment facilities. That system has a limited capacity, and when heavy precipitation pushes it past that limit, a combined discharge of rainwater and untreated sewage flows into the bay and ocean, driving fecal bacteria in our recreational waters up to hazardous levels.

Those levels can cause a range of bacterial infections and illnesses, and they often affect ocean-goers who have no idea that water which usually looks pretty clean is exceeding the safe bacterial limits set by the EPA under the Clean Water Act. We test six local sites of frequent recreational use to help monitor bacterial levels, and we build tools and resources to make the issue — and the level of risk — more accessible and understandable for anyone entering the Pacific Ocean around San Francisco.

Kyle Leftridge holding water sample, Ocean Beach, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa

What has been the highlight of your Surfrider experience? 

I am really proud of the ways we have been working to build and grow our Blue Water Task Force program here in San Francisco. We’ve grown such an engaged and excited group of volunteers who are all contributing to the various different BWTF projects we are working on - it’s been so rewarding and fun getting to connect with people who are also interested in how we can use science to help our community more safely enjoy the ocean!

What inspires you to be active in ocean conservation? 

I have been lucky enough to have spent much of my free time in the ocean in and around San Francisco since I was a kid. I’ve had so many formative and awe inspiring experiences through exploring and playing in places that were clean, accessible, and still full of wildlife and undeveloped/impacted coastline throughout Northern California.

Then, when traveling to other parts of the country where the coastline hadn’t been protected I didn’t understand why the water was so polluted or why there were private buildings blocking access and cars driving on the beach. After learning more about the efforts that had been made to help protect many of the places I’d grown up enjoying, the inspiration to help maintain and expand that type of protection came pretty easily.

Kyle sampling the water at Ocean Beach, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa

What can Surfrider do to foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment?  

Partnering with local groups is a great way to introduce newcomers to Surfrider. It gives people a firsthand look at the welcoming community they can join just by getting involved in our local projects. I would especially love to see more opportunities for local students to get involved. I first volunteered with Surfrider in high school, and I believe that integrating younger voices into our leadership would be invaluable. Their forward-thinking approach to inclusivity can help shape a stronger, more equitable direction for the organization.

BWTF volunteers at Baker Beach, SF. From left: Dasha Bespalova, Brendan Howe, Chris Takahashi, Amanda Ejups, Kyle Leftridge, Newara Brosnan-Faltas

Blue Water Task Force volunteers. From left: Chris Takahashi, Amanda Ejups, Dasha Bespalova, Brendan Howe at Ocean Beach, SF.  Photo: Guru Khalsa

What is the most important thing you tell others about Surfrider? 

My experience with Surfrider has been defined by seeing the way that communal volunteer effort creates meaningful conservational impact, and what impact that then can have on the people making that effort. I think the combination of working towards environmental conservation goals and doing so with likeminded people has resulted in meaningful relationships and a sense of community that is something many people I know are seeking. Love of the ocean and the resulting desire to help protect it often seems to make for pretty easy grounds in growing meaningful friendships. That in turn helps really maintain people’s interest in continuing to give their free time as a volunteer to work hard on making an impact, given how many other ways one could spend their free time.

Anything else you'd like to add? 

If anyone is interested in what the Blue Water Task Force is up to here in San Francisco, check out our website to learn more, or reach out to us at bwtf@sf.surfrider.org!

Kyle sampling the water at Ocean Beach, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa

BWTF Co-Leads, Amanda Ejups & Kyle Leftridge at Ocean Beach, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa

BWTF Co-Leads Kyle Leftridge and Amanda Ejups at the Lincoln Outfall testing site, Ocean Beach, San Francisco.
Photo: Guru Khalsa

BWTF Co-Leads, Amanda Ejups & Kyle Leftridge at Baker Beach, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa

Surfrider San Francisco's BWTF lab. Outer Sunset, San Francisco. Photo: Guru Khalsa