Pink dye to be released off Santa Monica Pier to track pollution Play

Researchers down in Santa Monica will be dumping pink vegetable dye off the pier Wednesday.

The Santa Monica Bay Foundation is bringing in the UCLA College of Engineering to understand why the water under the pier consistently ranks as extremely polluted.

They're going to release the dye to see how the water currents flow. The dye is made out of vegetables and will dissolve quickly.

The Santa Monica Pier is actually built on top of what used to be a rock breakwater — a jetty for an artificial harbor that was constructed back in 1934. That was the old Santa Monica Yacht Harbor.

The yacht harbor filled in with sand. By the 1980s it had been reduced to its current height, making it no longer functional as a marina. But the breakwater traps ocean water as it flows down the coast.

The release of the dye has been reviewed and approved by the Coastal Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Researchers will be there taking pictures, sharing informational brochures, and answering questions from people who want to know why the ocean is pink.