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Environment New stormwater regulations will impact everyone



Environment: Effort to Halt Ocean Pollution Has

Both Benefits and Costs

San Diego’s beaches could be cleaner and freer of pollution over the next two decades , which is good news for tourism and beach-based businesses.

But home builders may have to pick up the tab, and ultimately, the new regulations could affect land-use decisions miles from the shore.

The Regional Water Quality Control Board voted unanimously Feb. 21 to toughen the standards for pollution in stormwater runoff. The standards tighten restrictions on the amount of pollution entering stormwater drainage , which eventually ends up on the county’s beaches.

The new standards, which apply to every city in the county, are an update of laws that are already on the books. But they go much further, said Deborah Jayne, supervisor of the agency’s water quality standards.

“What this permit does is, for the first time, hold the municipalities accountable for short- and long-term water quality consequences of their land-use decisions. And it causes them to think where they make these land-use decisions and consider them throughout every step of their planning phases,” she said.

The new regulations take on something barely mentioned in the original documents , new development in inland cities such as El Cajon or Santee.

“The inland cities in the past have not understood when a beach was closed. They said, ‘Well, that’s a coastal problem. That’s not my problem. What this permit, in part, is helping them to see, is that when pollutants are discharged in any inland city, it’s only a matter of time before those pollutants travel down the stormwater conveyance system and make their way to the beach,” she said.

Serious Measures

Deborah Castillo, a spokeswoman for the city of San Diego’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, outlined some of the new requirements. The regulations, which are about as thick as a phone book, include serious measures to contain runoff on all new development.

For example, during construction on a previously undeveloped property, builders would have to make sure that as rainwater drains from the site, the water doesn’t carry any additional sediment. The test would be whether the color of the rainwater changes, she said.

That means a series of containment measures while under construction to prevent erosion and sediment-laden water from reaching city streets and entering storm drains, Castillo said.

In addition, commercial projects of more than 100,000 square feet and parking lots of more than 50,000 square feet will face additional requirements , such as installing pollution prevention devices that can treat runoff during storms, she said.

Cities Also Regulated

Other regulations cover cities themselves. Each city will be required to come up with a comprehensive plan to reduce pollution within one year, and then implement that plan within one year, Castillo said.

That means the plan will eventually cover every resident and every business in San Diego. The city will work to get the word out about how the new regulations affect the residents, she said.

This could mean everything from putting catch pans under cars to collect leaking motor oil, to cleaning pet waste in the yard, Castillo said.

“There’ll be a tremendous learning curve for all of us,” she said. “Because what we’re really talking about is changing behaviors in businesses and residents.”

Laura Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Health Coalition, echoed those sentiments.

“We are going to start addressing the problem of pollution and runoff in all of its facets,” she said. “Change is coming, folks, because people want clean water. We want to have our kids go to the beach, and not be worried about their health.”

Hunter noted the new regulations will affect everyone in the county , including new development.

“It means that new development now has to think about water quality and plan for its protection when they do their project,” she said. “The old way of just running all the pollution you can off your property as fast as you can is not going to work anymore.”

The results of all this pollution are expensive. Contaminated sediments passing through the storm system cost millions of dollars to clean up, and beach closures cost shore-based businesses, Hunter said.

But the benefits of cleaning up the pollution go beyond the shoreline, she said.

“The use of our beaches and waterways are an important part of our quality of life. They’re an important part of our economy; it’s why tourists come here. It’s a beautiful place, and part of being a beautiful place means you have clean water,” she said.

But Matthew Adams, director of governmental affairs for the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, strongly opposed the new regulations. Either his group or one of the affected cities may possibly appeal, he said.

The first problem is that builders are expected to pay the brunt of the costs to implement the program. The costs will ultimately be passed on to home buyers, and any new businesses that come to San Diego, Adams said.

Costs vary depending on the area, since it rains more in some places than others. But the new regulations could add anywhere between $5,000 and $25,000 per unit, he said.

It would cost more to install this equipment in already urbanized areas, since these places would have to be retrofitted with new runoff prevention equipment. That would impede efforts to implement smart growth

and build affordable housing, Adams said.

Ironically, this could lead to even more pollution. The new requirements could spur a greater push into areas that are not yet urbanized, and these are farther away from the urban core. That increases homeowners’ reliance on the automobile, and the car is one of the major sources of urban runoff, he said.

It could also affect local land use. Local jurisdictions worry the water quality board is trying to usurp local authority, Adams said.

“When development projects that come under question by either environmental groups or NIMBYs, they will be able to use the regional board in an effort to delay or stop development,” he said.

Another problem with the new regulations is it now falls to the housing industry to make sure no illicit discharges end up in storm drains. That’s an unrealistic expectation, he said.

“How can you prohibit the discharge of all illicit pollutants? They’re raising the bar beyond the ‘maximum extent possible’ to an absolute prohibition, and from a practical standpoint, that’s going to be next to impossible to achieve,” Adams said.

Adams said the regulations don’t go after already existing development , only new development. That means a major source of urban runoff is being overlooked, and therefore these measures will have little effect.

As proof, Adams pointed to reports from the water quality board’s staff, which said it would be 20 years before anyone sees any results, he said.

Jayne disagreed, although she acknowledged it would be years before people see results on San Diego’s beaches.

“It took us a long time to degrade the water to its current state, and cleaning it up is not going to happen overnight,” she said. “The beaches won’t stop being closed tomorrow. But this is an important step.”

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