Fall 2005 California Runoff Rundown Newsletter

8/3/2019 Fall 2005 California Runoff Rundown Newsletter

1/16

The Ahwahnee Water Principles:Em bedding NPS in Com m unity Developm ent

efficient use of water resources.

Cities, counties and regional plan-

ning agencies are incorporating

concepts embodied in th e Water

Principles in to th eir developm ent

plan s, and th e State Water Resources

Control Board (State Water Board)

may make the Principles part of its

program of grants an d loan s for

water in frastructure p rojects.

Som e of th e key features of the

Water Prin ciples are use of p aving

A N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E W A T E R E D U C A T I O N F O U N D A T I O N

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Fal l 20 05

BY GLENNTOTTEN

T

he intermit tent nature of

n on point source water pollu-

tion, i ts ever-chan gin g volume

and comp osition, presen ts tough

challenges for cities and local

governments facing explosive

growth and water quality problems.

Is there a way to balance the de-

m and s of Californ ias m ushroom ing

popu lation and increasin gly expen-

sive real estate wh ile at th e same

tim e dealin g with d ifficult urban

run off problem s?

Regional and local planners

believe they h ave foun d such a way

in th e Ah wahn ee Water Prin ciples

for Resou rce Efficient Lan d U se, a

set of guidelines adop ted in early

2005 by th e Local Governm ent

Com m ission (LGC).

The Water Principles emph asize

m ore comp act urban development

th at m akes use of n atural an d

plann ed features to m anage urban

runoff, improve and enh ance

ground water resources and prom ote

In This Issue

Fal l 20 05

Mercury TMDL Returned ...... 3

Garcia River TMDL........ ....... 4

Nonpoint Source News ....... . 9

TMDL Roundup ................. 11

Rethinking Urban Runoff

Management .................. 14


2/16

Edi tors

Rita Schm idt Sudman

Sue McClu rg

Writers

Glenn Totten

Gary Pitzer

Edi tor ia l Assi s tance

Diana Farmer

P h o t o s

California Departmen t of

Water Resources

Sue McClu rg

Rivertech

State Water Resources Con trol Board

TreePeople

Jonathan Warmerdam

D e s ig n a n d La y o u t

Curt Leipold,

Graphic Comm unications

The Water Education Foundat ion th anks

all the sources and experts who reviewed

this newsletter for balance and accuracy.

Water Education Foun dation

717 K St., Suite 3 17

Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 444-6240

Fax (916) 448-7699

e-mail: feedback@wateredu cation .org

W e b p a g e : w w w . w a t e r e d u c a t i o n . o rg

Pres ident

Hen ry Vaux Jr., Ph.D.

Execut ive Direc tor

Rita Schm idt Sudman

Laurel Ames, California W atershed Network

Grant Davis, The Bay Institute

Denn is Dickerson ,McGuire Malcolm Pirnie

Steve Fagun des, State W ater Resources Control Board

David Gu y, General Manager, Northern California Water Association

Jake Macken zie, City of Rohnert Park

Dan iel Merkley, State W ater Resources Control Board

Michele Stress, San Diego County Departm ent of Public W orks

Sam Ziegler, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The California Runoff Rundown is published

by the Water Education Founda tion. The

mission of the Water Edu cation Foun dation,

an imp artial, non-profit organization, is to

create a better und erstanding of water issuesand h elp resolve water resource problems

through educational programs. The

California Runoff Rundown is published

through a grant from the State Water

Resources Control Board w ith fund ing from

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

under the Federal Nonpoint Source

Pollution Control Program (Clean Water Act

Section 319). Its contents do not represent

position s of the State Board or U.S. EPA, and

neither organization has end orsed the

contents.

Em ail yo ur story ideas to Glen n Totten , gtotten @w atereducatio n.o rg

Urban areas across California are implementing programs to reduce

runoff, which has emerged as the most serious water quality

problem for m any com m un ities. Not only can run off contribute

to floodin g, but in pickin g up a h ost of contam inan ts, some of them toxic,as it flows across streets an d buildin g surfaces, run off poses a h ard-to-solve

pollution threat to rivers, creeks and beaches.

With Californias growing population making water supplies tighter

th an ever, urban areas are looking toward a new developmen t m odel that

can allow th em to accomm odate growth and address som e of th eir runoff

prob lems. Part of th e an swer lies in th e Ah wah n ee Water Principles, pro-

filed in th is issue. Th e Water Principles h ave gotten a good deal of atten -

tion from local and regional planning agencies as a low-impact develop-

m ent strategy th at can address problems posed by urban run off and en-

h ance water supplies through ground water recharge.

In th is issue ofTh e California Runoff Rundown, youll fin d exam ples of

practical projects that h ave demon strated inn ovative ways of building

run off m anagemen t features in to urban landscapes. If you h ave an ex-

am ple of a successful urban run off project, we h ope yo ull sh are it with

your peers through Th e California Runoff Rundown. x

2 THECALIFORNIA RUNOFFRUNDOWN FALL 2005


3/16

T

h e State Water Board voted

4-1 Sept. 7 to sen d a m ercury

TMDL back to th e San Fran-

cisco Bay Region al Water Board foraddition al review. Th e Regional

Water Board will have n ine m on th s

to review and amen d th e TMDL to

meet conditions outlined by the

Stat e Water Board.

Presented with th ree options for

dealing with th e San Fran cisco Bay

m ercury TMDL, th e State Water

Board ch ose Option 2, wh ich gives

the San Francisco Bay Regional

Water Board n ine m on th s to revise

th e TMDL to add ress issues identi-

fied by th e State Water Board an dby the U.S. Environmental Protec-

tion Agency. Th e first of th e two

oth er options (Option 1) would

have approved the San Francisco

Bay Region al Water Board s m ercury

TMDL; the th ird opt ion wou ld have

approved i t with non bind ing

recom m endation s that th e TMDL be

corrected to address specific

issues.

The resolution approved by th e

State Water Board stop ped sh ort of

calling inadequate the Regional

Water Boards m ercury TMDL

approved in September 2004, but i t

iden tified several issues it said

n eeded to be add ressed before the

TMDL can b e app roved. Those

issues in cluded an absence of

specific m on itorin g requirement s

for meth ylmercury, waste load

allocations that failed to account for

variations among dischargers and a

failure to identify all sources of

mercury that may affect San Fran-

cisco Bay.

Option 2 approved by th e StateWater Board was supported by the

boards staff an d by en viron m ental

and fishing groups, who said ad-

dressing th e issues raised by th e

board would result in faster removal

of mercury from th e Bay and

reductions in mercury in wildlife,

includ ing fish . The State Water

Board agreed to clarify language in

th e resolution to en sure th at dis-

posal of dredged material contain-

ing m ercury comp lies with provi-

sion s of a long-term m anagemen tstrategy for mercury.

Opponents of Option 2 included

the San Francisco Bay Regional

Water Board, refineries and sanita-

tion agencies that operate wastewa-

ter treatm ent p lants that d ischarge

into the Bay. They argued that

adoption of Option 2 would be

costly to implemen t an d result in

on ly margin ally faster attain m ent of

water q uality objectives for m ercury.

The Region al Water Board projects

its TMDL would ach ieve water

qu ality o bjectives in 12 0 years.

San Francisco Bay is listed under

th e federal Clean Water Act as

imp aired by m ercury. Th e largest

single source is mercury mined and

used du ring th e Gold Rush era. As

m uch as 8 mil lion poun ds accumu-

lated in Bay sediments from mer-

cury m ines in t h e San Fran cisco Bay

Area or mercury-laden sediments

th at drain ed into th e bay from

Cen tral Valley rivers. Bed ero sion in

th e Bay accoun ts for almo st 40

percent of mercury released into the

Bay each year, compared with about

15 percent p er year from urban and

n on -urban run off. Municipal an d

ind ustrial wastewater d ischarges

accoun t for less th an 2 percent.

Mercury is a particularly difficult

pollutant to d eal with because it can

convert to an organic form, m eth-

ylmercury, wh ich is highly toxic

and accum ulates in food web

organism s. Elevated m ercury levels

in fish h ave prom pted advisories

from public health agencies forsport and subsistence anglers who

regularly catch an d eat Bay fish.

Exposure to mercury can cause

n eurotoxic effects on th e brain and

spin al cord such as abn ormal

sensory fun ction . It also is lin ked

with birth d efects and developm en-

tal im pairm ents in children.

EPA has objected t o certain parts

of the TMDL. It supp orted Opt ion 2

because it said th at op tion aggres-

sively targets legacy mercury pollu-

tion, en sures that p oint sources don ot increase disch arges, establishes

n um eric targets an d im proves

m on itorin g for meth ylm ercury. In

add ition t o th e State Water Board,

EPA must ap prove th e Region al

Water Boards m ercury TMDL.

The specific n um eric targets in

th e TMDL are to redu ce average

m ercury con centration s in Bay fish

tissue by about 40 percent to 0.2

parts per million (ppm), reduce

m ercury in wild bird eggs by mo re

than 25 percent to 0.5 ppm andreduce mercury in suspen ded

sedimen t by about half to 0.2 ppm .

During im plemen tation, th e TMDL

will be reviewed regularly to fine-

tune targets and allocations as new

information becomes available.

Cop ies of the San Fran cisco Bay

Water Board s TMDL docum en ts are

available at www.waterboards.ca.gov/

sanfranciscobay/fbaymercurytmdl.htm .x

State Water Board Sends BackSan Francisco Bay Mercury TMDL

The Latest News

FALL2005 THECALIFORNIA RUNOFFRUNDOWN 3


4/16

The relatively small Garcia

River watershed in southwest-

ern Mendocino County is

shaping up as a big player in th e

implemen tation o f Total Maxim um

Daily Load (TMDL) standards on

m ore than two dozen o th er rivers in

th e North Coast region . The suc-

cessful imp lemen tation of a TMDL

for sedim en t in th e Garcia River

Watersh ed b odes well for sim ilar

TMDLs being developed b y th e

North Coast Region al Water Quality

Control Board, say two of those whoh ave worked closely on th e TMDL.

I th in k its a successful pro gram

over all; it bod es well for th e future,

said Jon athan Warm erdam, an

environm ental scien tist for th e

North Coast Water Board. Craig

Bell, Garcia River Watersh ed C oo rdi-

n ator for th e California Departmen t

of Fish an d Gam e, agreed, calling

th e Garcia River th e watershed with

a warranty, thanks to the TMDL.

Like oth er North Coast rivers that

emp ty into th e Pacific Ocean , th e

Garcia is imp aired by sedim en t

discharges m ostly attributable to

h istoric and on goin g tim ber har-

vesting operations. The sediment

has contributed to loss of suitable

h abitat and elevated temp eratures

in th e river th at ad versely affect

several species of salmon.

The G arcia River origina tes in

th e rugged Coast Ran ge just west

of Yorkville, in Men docin o Co un ty,

and empties into the Pacific Ocean

about 50 m iles west near Point

Arena. Th e sparsely popu lated,73,000-acre watershed h as been

h om e to timber operation s for

decades as well as some agriculture.

Th e work th at led up to th e

adop tion of th e Garcia River TMDL

in 2002 dates back to th e mid-

1990s. It has invo lved a variety of

stakeholders such as timber compa-

nies, farmers, conservation groups

and regulators. About 20 landown -

ers properties that make up ap-

proximately 75 percent of th e

watershed are currently developing

or im plemen ting erosion con trol

plans and man agement plans to

com ply with th e Garcia River

TMDL, Warmerdam said.

A TMDL is a calculation of the

maximum amoun t of a pollutant

th at a waterbody can receive andstill meet wat er quality stan dards,

and an allocat ion of that amoun t

to the pollutants sources in the

watershed. The Garcia River has

been identified as impaired by

sediment discharges from various

sources, m ainly un paved roads

(in cludin g skid t rails from loggin g

operation s) and timber h arvestin g

operations. The Garcia River Water

Quality Attainm ent Action Plan,

wh ich in cludes the TMDL, is at

www.waterboards.ca.gov/northcoast/programs/ tm dl/garcia/garcia.ht m l).

Annual average sediment load

in th e Garcia River is estimated at

1,380 to n s per year. The two biggest

sources are fluvial erosion an d m ass

wasting (e.g., landslide).

Und er developm ent since 1997,

th e Garcia River TMDL is the first

of i ts kin d in th e six-coun ty North

Coast Region, and gives landowners

th ree comp liance option s:

Op t ion No . 1 - Com ply wit h

the Garcia River WatershedWaste Disch arge Proh ibition ,

wh ich applies to all landown -

ers and ban s the con trollable

disch arge of soil, silt, bark,

slash, sawdust, or oth er or-

ganic and earthen m aterial

from loggin g, construction,

gravel m inin g, agricultural or

grazing act ivities;

Opt ion No. 2 Develop an

Erosion Con trol Plan an d Site-

Specific Managem en t Plan; or

Opt ion No. 3 Develop an

Erosion Co n trol Plan an d

com ply with t h e Garcia River

Managemen t Plan, wh ich

specifies gen eral lan d m an age-

m ent m easures for un stable

areas an d riparian areas and

for areas related to roads,

skid trails, landin gs, n ear-

stream facilities and gravel

mining.


Garcia River TMDL:

Tim ber harvesting is a m ajor source of

sedim ent in th e Garcia River wat ershed.

Watershed with a Warranty

Garcia River TMDL:


5/16

The North Coast Water Board has

encouraged land own ers to cho ose

Opt ion s No. 2 or No. 3. Both

option s require developm ent of an

Erosion Co n trol Plan to control

existin g sou rces of sedimen t an d a

man agement plan to prevent futuresources of sedimen t an d im prove

th e watercourse conditions on th e

property. The North Coast Water

Board s execut ive officer is in ch arge

of approvin g the com pliance

documents .

The Erosion Con trol Plan in-

cludes the following elemen ts: an

inven tory o f sedim en t-delivery sites,

a sedimen t reduction sch edule, an

assessm en t of un stable areas and a

m on itoring p lan to evaluate sedi-

ment-control efforts. Warmerdamdescribed sedimen t-delivery sites

as hum an-caused sources th at h ave

th e poten tial to deliver 10 cubic

yards of sedimen t or m ore over th e

40-year life of the TMDL. The major

sediment-delivery sites typically are

associated with roads, skid trails,

watercourse crossing an d old cul-

verts, he explained.

Landowners must agree to follow

a management plan, which

includes a series of land m an age-

m ent m easures to prevent futuresedimen t d ischarges associated with

land use activities, as well as to

improve th e watercourse cond ition s

on th eir property. These land

m anagemen t m easures include such

th ings as stream b ank p rotections,

filterin g of eroded m aterial before

it ent ers a watercourse, protection

and avoidan ce of unstable areas

and recruitmen t of large woody

debris to th e watercourse chan n el

and floodp lain . Land own ers can

choose to d evelop th eir own site-

specific man agem ent plans (Option

No. 2) or follow th e set of best

m an agemen t practices (BMPs) called

th e Garcia River Man agemen t Plan

(Option No. 3) provided in th e

Garcia River TMD L.

Salmon popu lation s have really

declined over the last couple of

decades, Warm erdam said, n oting

th at rebuilding h abitat for salm on

and steelh ead is th e main focus of

the Garcia River TMDL. One species

th at uses th e Garcia River, Coh osalm on , is listed as a threaten ed

species under the federal Endan-

gered Species Act (ESA) for several

North Coast rivers and was listed

in March 2005 as endan gered un der

the California ESA for the Garcia

River area.

Sa l m o n R eb o u n dThe TMDL has been in effect

sin ce 2002, and imp rovements to

fish-spawning habitat already have


been d ocum ented, said Bell . Coho

salmon , th e mo st sensitive of the

salmonid species that visit theGarcia River, have returned for six

years straight, he noted. The hardier

steelh ead trout h as sh own increases

in the last five years, and pink and

Ch inook salm on were reported in

2003 in nu mbers not seen in m ore

th an 20 years, he said.

Th e improvemen ts are partly the

result o f 15 years of work in volving

regulators, landowners and stake-

h olders, but th ree recen t m ajor land

CONTINUED ONPAGE 12

Broken culverts contribut e to sediment discharge.

Unpaved roads are sources of sediment.


6/16

materials that allow runoff to soak

into groun dwater, landscaped

swales (shallow vegetated depres-

sions) that filter sediments and

pollutants from run off and encour-age in filtration to groun dwater and

recognition th at n atural features

such as wetlands, recharge zones

an d riparian areas can b e assets for

flood protection, water quality

improvemen t and groun dwater

recharge.

The Ah wah n ee Water Prin ciples

address every one o f our m ajor goals

an d ob jectives at th e Water Board,

said Celeste Cant , executive

director of th e State Water Board.

Som e of the prin ciples seem atfirst glan ce to be a radical departure

from Californ ias tradition al sprawl

developm ent pattern , but advocates

believe th ey m ay offer a way to

accomm odat e C alifornias skyrock-

etin g popu lation growth wh ile also

protectin g precious water resources.

You just can t con tin ue with

patt erns of th e past, says Jake

Mackenzie, mayor of the City of

Roh nert Park, about 50 m iles north

of San Francisco, and an enthusias-

tic sup port er of th e Water Prin -

ciples.

Th is wh ole notion of storm-

water man agement an d urban

n on point source run off h as to be

incorporated into growth and

developm ent if we are goin g to be

successful, said Mark Pisano,

executive director of th e Sout h ernCaliforn ia Association of Govern -

m en ts (SCAG). Agreeing w ith

Mackenzie, Pisan o said th e Water

Principles need to be incorporated

into city an d coun ty gen eral plans

and into project developm ent plan s,

as well.

At th e state level, th e State Water

Board is taking a close look at t h e

Water Principles an d con sidering

how to build incentives for follow-

ing them into grants and loans

issued by th e board for waterinfrastructure p rojects. The Water

Board is looking t o see wh ere we

can incorporate [the Water Prin-

ciples] and . . . ask the recipient s of

our money to take responsibility for

th eir actions and to be accoun table

to future gen erations, Cant said.

Proponents believe the Water

Principles hold a key to the way

Californ ia will grow now an d in th e

future, focusing on low-impact

growth that uses land and natural

resources efficient ly and th at workswith natu ral processes rath er th an

subjugating them. The dispersed

development of the last 50 years is

goin g to be equally match ed by a

m ore focused developm ent in th e

n ext 50 years. Th e Water Principles

will be part of that n ew growth ,

Pisano said.The app roach also dovetails with

th e growin g density of developm ent

in Californias urban areas. With

real estate values skyrocketing, infill

development projects are reclaiming

former in du strial properties for

oth er purposes such as housing and

com m ercial uses.

Wat er Pr in c i p l es i n Act i onThe Water Prin ciples are too n ew

for man y local governm ents or

regional plann ing agencies to h aveform ally adopted th em, but th ere

are man y examples of developm ent

across Californ ia th at reflect con -

cepts embodied in the Principles.

The San Fran cisco Bay Area h as

been especially active. There the San

Fran cisco Bay Region al Water

Qu ality Co n trol Boards approval in

2001 of an am endm ent to th e Santa

Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution

Prevent ion Program (San ta Clara

program ) perm it triggered a review

of local design stan dards for avariety of housing, public and

comm ercial developm ents. The

revised design stand ards follow

practices very sim ilar to th ose

recomm ended in th e Ahwah nee

Water Principles.

A comm on th read run ning

through those standards is planning

of n ew developmen t to mitigate the

water quality impacts of stormwater

runoff. For many urban areas,

stormwater runoff is the m ost

serious water pollution and water

quality problem they face.

Projects cited in A Guidebook of

Site Design Exam ples issued by th e

Santa Clara program take advantage

of nat ural site top ograph y, cluster

developm en t in less sensitive

portion s of a site to p reserve envi-

ronmentally beneficial features and

use design techn iques to min imize

imp ervious surface area to en cour-

Ah w ah n ee Water Pr in c ip l es

CONTINUED FROMFRONTPAGE


Permeable paving materials filter runoff.


7/16

The Ahw ahn ee

Water Principles

address every on e

of o ur major goals

and objectives at

th e Water Board. Celeste Cant , Executive

Director, State W ater Board

age in filtration o f

runoff.

Specific p ractices

cited in th e Guide-

bookinclude reduc-

ing street an d right-

of-way widths(con sistent with fire

protection n eeds),

installing curb cuts

to allow for storm -

water drain age in to

swales and landscaping, using

grading and drainage practices that

direct run off to d etention basins,

swales and vegetated ch ann els

and prom oting alternatives to

automobiles. Some examples:

A San Jose apar tment complex

is designed t o allowstorm water runoff to enter a

rocky swale, wh ere it is filtered

before entering the storm

drain. The project reduces the

velocity of runoff and provides

some n atural treatmen t before

run off enters the storm drain.

A comm erc ia l deve lopment in

Palo Alto u sed a constru cted,

vegetated

bioswale

to provide

natural

t reatment of

runoff, reduce

the volum eand velocity

of runoff and

reduce p esti-

cide use. Th e

same project

features a parking area m ade

with p ermeable pavers th at

allow runoff to infiltrate and

provide natural treatmen t.

The Sant a Clara Valley Water

District headquarters building

in San Jose uses curb cu ts in its

parking lot to direct runoff tovegetated swales that p rovide

n atural treatmen t of run off

and reduce impervious surface

areas. Th e buildin g also con -

n ects rooftop d own spouts to

landscaping to treat runoff

from th at source.

More exam ples of projects that

incorporate runoff management

features are summ arized in th e

San ta Clara p rogram Guidebook,

wh ich is posted on th e Bay Area

Stormwater Management Agencies

Association website at

www.basmaa.org/resources/files/

SCVURPPP_Site_Design_Exam ples.pdfRelated docu m en ts are available at

www.scvurppp.org

The Low-Impact Development

Center, In c., reports that a porou s

paving system coupled with a swale

can ach ieve 91 percent removal of

total suspended solids from runoff

and 75 percent to 92 percent re-

moval of metals (copper, manga-

n ese, iron, lead an d zinc). Other

studies of perm eable paving system s

with swales have rep orted signifi-

cant reduction s in n itrates, n itritesand ph osphorus, as well as reduc-

tions of up to 90 percen t in run off

volum e because of in filtration

(see www.lid-stormwater.net/

perm eable_pavers/permpavers_

benefits.htm for det ails).

In south ern Californ ia, th ere has

been similar interest in building


CONTINUEDON NEXTPAGE

Infiltration units under construction at

Sun Valley filter and store runoff.


8/16

You just cant

continue w ith

development

patterns of the

past.

Jake Mackenzie,Mayor of Rohnert Park

run off m anage-

m ent features into

new d evelopm ent ,

according to

Pisano. The organ i-

zation TreePeople

h as worked withth e City of Los

Angeles and oth er

partners on projects

th at follow con -

cepts outlined in th e Water

Principles.

On e such project is in Sun Valley,

a comm un ity of 71,000 in th e

northeast San Fernando Valley that

is n otoriou s for int ersection flood-

ing during storm events because it

was built with out storm drains.

TreePeople is collaboratin g with th eLos Angeles County Department of

Public Works on a series of projects

in Sun Valley Park th at will capture

run off and direct it to treatmen t

devices that remove sediment, trash

and m etals. Two un dergroun d

infiltration basins can h old up to

2.25 m illion gallons of treated

runoff for groundwater recharge.

Inflow is irregular, but storage is

temp orary and in filtration is con-

tin uou s. Besides clean ing th e

run off, th e project will reduce areaflood ing an d im prove park facilities.

A similar system for directing

run off to a storage un it was built

at Open Charter School in Santa

Mon ica. Run off infiltrates thro ugh

ath letic fields an d lan dscaped areas

int o a 110,000-gallon cistern, wh ich

removes sediment and other con-

tamin ant s, m akin g the treated water

available for reuse to irrigate land -

scaping instead of flowing untreated

int o San ta Mon ica Bay.

For more information on th ese

pro jects, visit www.treepeople.org.

Pri nc i p l ed Grow t hThe Water Principles are advisory,

but Jud y Corbett, executive director

of LGC, says they are gainin g

support from key local, regional and

state agencies th at regulate develop-

m ent an d allocate grant fun ding for

water infrastructure construction

and improvemen ts.

The Region al

Plann ing Comm it-

tee of the Associa-

tion of Bay Area

Governments

(ABAG) in th e n ine-coun ty San Fran-

cisco Bay Area h as

adopted them.

SCAG, ABAGs

coun terpart in th e Los An geles area,

h asnt formally adopted th em, but

a n um ber of developments in th e

region h ave followed con cepts listed

in th e Prin ciples, Pisano said.

The Ah wah n ee Water Prin ciples

are grouped into n ine comm un ity

principles and five implementa-

tion prin ciples. Th ey are designedto com plemen t a broader set of

community-development principles

adopted by LGC in 1991. Both sets

of principles are nam ed for the

Ah wah n ee Hotel in Yosem ite Valley,

wh ere they were drafted.

Five of th e nine comm un ity

prin ciples d irectly add ress urban

n on point source run off. They stress

m ore comp act developm ent , m ul-

tiple uses of natu ral water features

such as wetlands and open space to

m anage runoff and improve waterquality and u se of landscapin g and

permeable surfaces to promote

infiltration of run off rather th an

quick disposal throu gh storm

sewers.

Th e implemen tation principles

encourage early in volvemen t of

water agencies in lan d u se decision -

m aking an d collaboration s on water

resources plann ing am on g local

officials, special districts, stakeh old-

ers and others on a watershed basis.

The Water Principles follow th e

format and content of th e 1991

comm un ity-development pr in-

ciples. In tend ed to p romo te growth

th at is less autom obile-depen dent ,

th e 1991 principles encourage more

com pact, resource-efficien t develop-

ment. Many cities in California

have adopted and implemen ted the

1991 principles, including Santa

Mon ica and Cathedral City in

Californ ia, accordin g to Corbett

and Mackenzie.

Advocates of t h e Water Principles

say th ey are not an ti-growth. The

Ah wah n ee Water Prin ciples are n ot

a n o-growth scen ario; th is is a low-

impact growth scenario, Can tsaid.

Em b e d d e d i n Pl a n n i n gLocal governm ents can adopt th e

1991 Principles and/or the Water

Prin ciples or tailor th em t o suit

th eir needs, Corbett said. Mackenzie

said the key to using the Water

Prin ciples as a tool to m an age urban

run off is to get them embedd ed in

general plans adopted by cities and

coun ties. Th e general plans are

critical because on ce you get th esePrin ciples into coun ties general

plans, everything th at follows m ust

be compatible and con sisten t, he

said, callin g general plans th e

constitution for growth in Cali-

fornia.

Rohnert Park updated its general

plan in 2000, but is preparing to

revisit it in th e n ext fiscal year,

Mackenzie said. When Son om a

Coun ty did its mo st recent an alysis

of available water supp lies to ac-

comm odate projected futuregrowth , it ident ified recyclin g of

h ighly treated wastewater as a water

resource along with traditional

sources such as surface water an d

groundwater, he said.

Asked if its a h ard sell to co n -

vince local governm ents to ado pt

th e Principles, Mackenzie said m an y

are realizing that in order to accom-

m odat e C alifornias pro jected

popu lation growth, a new develop-

m ent m odel is an im perative, n ot

an opt ion . Were strongly suggest-

ing that in the 21st century, to

accom m odate the 500,000 to

600,000 n ew Californian s each year,

weve absolutely got to ad opt th ese

Principles, he said.

Pisano said skyrocketing h ou sin g

costs and lack of in frastructu re

resou rces to service th e n eeds of

sprawling communities are causing


CONTINUED ONPAGE 13


9/16

CONTINUED ONPAGE 12


Cen tral Valley Ag Waiver Updates

Th e Cen tral Valley Regional

Water Qu ality C on trol Boards

conditional agricultural

waiver program (see The Runoff

Rundown , Spring 200 5) is un der-

going some ch an ges. On Aug. 5,

th e Region al Water Board appro ved

amen dm ents to the waiver th at

clarify procedures for inspections

of private property and p rotection

of tech nical reports that m ay

con tain trad e secrets. Both chan gescame in respon se to a court ruling

in May th at largely uph eld th e

waiver program b ut sent th ree

issues back to t h e Cen tral Valley

Water Board for revision . A th ird

issue, defining agricultural-

dom inated waterways and con -

structed ag drains as surface waters

of th e state, was sch eduled for

con sideration at a Sept. 15-16

m eeting of th e Cen tral Valley

Water Board .

On Aug. 15, th e Cen tral Valley

Water Board s execu tive officer

issued revised monitoring and

reporting requirements for coalition

groups. One change requires a

coalit ion group to report with in th e

next business day if it determines

th at a water q uality objective h as

been exceeded in a ru no ff sam ple.

The coalit ion group m ust make thedetermination of whether a water

qu ality o bjective was violated

with in five bu sin ess days of receiv-

ing the laboratory analytical report.

For copies of all th e chan ges to th e

Cen tral Valley Water Board s ag

waiver regulation s, go to http://

www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/

programs/irrigated_lands/

index.html#News x

Fees for Ag Waiver

Growers who p articipate in

any of the agricultural

waiver programs to reduce

run off from irrigated lan ds soon

will begin p aying a fee to cover

costs of administering and enforc-ing th e program s. The State Water

Board ap proved em ergency regula-

tions Jun e 16 und er which it plans

to collect about $1.9 million to

fund 22 position s.

The amou n t a grower pays

depen ds on acreage and wh ether

a grower participates in the condi-

tional waiver program individually

or th rough a coalit ion group. For

coalition s or groups th at collect fees

from p articipatin g growers, th e fee

is $100 per coalition o r group, plus$0.12 cen ts per acre. For coalitions

or groups that do not collect fees,

each p articipatin g grower pays a

base fee of $100, plus $0.20 cents

per acre. For individual growers,

th ere is a base fee of $100, plus

$0.30 cents per acre. Several coali-

tion groups offered alternative

proposals.

The State Water Board also

approved a memorandu m of un der-

standing with th e Department of

Pesticide Regulation for a pilotprogram in Glenn and Butte coun-

ties und er wh ich two field staff will

be hired to supp ort im plemen tation

of th e irrigated lan ds program

th rough p ublic education, inspec-

tion of watersh ed mon itorin g

locations an d assisting in iden tifica-

tion of sources of water quality

problems. The agreement is ex-


10/16

Assessing and evaluating

project success;

TM DL im pl em en t at ion ;

Com m uni t y gr oup invo lve-

m ent an d pu blic participation

experiences;

Report s on vegeta ted t reatment

systems;

Agricultura l management

practices; Bioassessment techn iques; and

Develop ing and i m p lem en t ing

watersh ed p lans.

On the closing day, conference

participants have th e option of

attending two full-day workshops:

one m onitor ing design an d data

quality concepts, or a second

worksh op on performan ce m easure-

m ent design . Also available is a

choice of two full-day field trips:

on e covers the h istory of Cache

Creek and efforts to preserve an d

protect i ts water qu ality; the o th er

field trip will visit th e Mokelum n e

River watersh ed to observe com-

pleted and on goin g projects to

enh ance overall riparian h abitat and

water q uality.

Registration for th e Third Bien -

n ial California NPS Conference is

$125 if postm arked by Sept. 23,

$150 if postmarked later, and

1 0 THECALIFORNIA RUNOFFRUNDOWN FALL 2005

Updated Calif.

NPS Encyclopedia

An upd ated California Nonpoint

Source Encyclopedia (NPS

En cycloped ia) is n ow avail-

able from th e State Water Board.

This con den sed, quick-reference

guide provides an entry po int to

information on non point source

m anagemen t p ractices in California

including brief discussions and the

intent of 61 nonpoint source

m anagemen t m easures for each of

th e six n on point source categories

(agriculture; forestry; urban areas;m arin as and recreation al boating;

h ydromo dification an d wetlan ds;

riparian areas and vegetated treat-

m ent system s).

Th e NPS Encyclopedia describes

man agement pract ices and how

th ey can be used to m eet each

m anagemen t m easure, along with

th eir applicability to various situa-

tion s and th eir cost-effectiveness in

different climatic and land use

settings. The information is in-

ten ded to assist state agen cies,

region al water board s, local agencies

and n on point source practit ioners

in identifying and implementing

practices to protect high-quality

waters and restore imp aired waters.

To d own load th e n ewest edition

of th e En cycloped ia, visit th e State

Water Boards NPS website at

www.waterboards.ca.gov/nps/

index.html. x

2005 Biennial Non pointSource Con ference

includes all m aterials, two contin en-

tal breakfasts, two lunches and a

poster session. Field trips are $25

extra and include a box lun ch.

Detailed information on th e confer-

ence, in cludin g a complete agen da

an d registration forms, is availableat http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/nps/

fall2005.html.

For general conference inform a-

tion, contact Kim Wittorff of the

State Water Board at (916) 327-9117

or [email protected], o r

Tina Yin of U.S. EPA at (415) 972-

3879 or Yin [email protected]. x

NPS News

Measurin g Water Quality

Improvemen ts is th e

th em e of th is years Th ird

Bienn ial California N PS Con ference,

to be h eld in Sacram ento November

7-9. Th e con feren ce will high light

specific projects an d p ractices th at

successfully ad dress C aliforn ias

leading cause of water quality

impairments nonpoint sourcepollution.

The focus of the con feren ce will

be on th e im portan ce of design ing

projects to achieve measurable

water quality im provemen ts an d on

techn iques for m on itoring imp rove-

m ents. It will offer an opp ortun ity

to learn about th e num erous NPS

pollution con trol projects th at h ave

been supp orted by state and federal

funds, especially Clean Water Act

(CWA) Section 319 and Bond

Propositions 13, 40 an d 50. It will

prom ote techn ology transfer by

examining on-the-ground examples

related to agriculture, forestry,

urban development, marinas and

boating, hydrom odification an d

habitat alteration, abandoned mines

and oth er land use activities th at

affect water quality.

Con curren t session topics

include the following:


11/16

NPS News

CONTINUED ONPAGE 12

San Fran ci sco Bay (Regio n 2 )Project report for p a t h o g e n s i n N a p a R i v er released Jun e 30

Con tact: Peter Krottje, 510/6 22-2382; project sum m ary available atwww.waterboards.ca.gov/san franciscobay/napariverpathogentm dl.ht m

Project report for s ed i m e n t i n N a p a R i v e r released Jun e 28

Con tact: Michael Napolitano, 510/ 622-2331; project sum m ary

available at www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/

napariversedimenttmdl.htm

Proposed TMDL and Implemen tation Plan for D i a z in o n a n d P e s t i -

c ide-Related Tox ic i ty in San Fran cisco Bay Area Urban

Creeks released August 5, 2005

Con tact: Bill Joh n son , 510/622-2354; project sum m ary available at

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/

urbancrksdiazinontmdl.htm

Cen tral Coas t (Region 3)State Water Board approved May 19 Central Coast Regions TMDL for

path ogen s i n San Lui s Obi spo Creek

Con tact: Ch ristop h er Rose, 805/542-4770; staff report available at

www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/TMDL/303dandTMDLprojects.htm

Los Ang eles (Region 4)Adop ted TMDL Jun e 2 to redu ce m eta l s i n L os Ang e l e s Ri ver and

tr i butar i e s

Con tact: Jenn y Newman , 213/576-6808

Adop ted TMDL Jun e 2 to redu ce metals in Ballon a Creek

Con tact: Rebecca Ch ristman n , 213/576-6757

Adop ted TMDL Jun e 2 to redu ce t o x i c p o l l u t a n t s i n B a ll o n a Cr e ekEstuary

Con tact: Rebecca Ch ristman n , 213/576-6757

Colo rado River (Regio n 7 )State Water Board approved July 21 a TMDL for se d i m e n t / s il t a t io n

for th ree Im per i a l Va l l ey dra i ns th at emp ty into th e Salton Sea

with n um eric targets iden tical to TMDLs approved earlier for th e

New River and Alam o River; to view staff reports, visit

www.waterboards.ca.gov/coloradoriver/tmdl/TMDL_Status.htm

San t a Ana ( Reg i on 8 )State Water Board approved May 19 Santa Ana Regions TMDL for

nu tr i ent s i n Lake E l si no re and Cany on Lak eContact: Cindy Li, 951/782-4906 or Hope Smythe, 951/782-4493;

staff report available at www.waterboards.ca.gov/santaana/html/

elsinore_tmdl.html

San Di ego ( Reg i on 9 )Adopted TMDLs June 29 for copp er, z i nc an d l ead i n Cho l l as

Creek tributary to San Diego Bay

Con tact: Jam es Sm ith, 858/4 67-2732; staff report available at:

www.waterboards.ca.gov/sandiego/rb9board/May5/item%208/EOSR.pdf

FALL2005 THECALIFORNIA RUNOFFRUNDOWN 1 1

EPA ReleasesImprovedStormwater

ManagementModel

An improved comp uter pro-

gram for plann ing, analyzing

and designing urban

stormwater drainage and sewer

system s is ava ilable from U.S. EPA.

The u pd ated version (Version

5.0.005b) of the open-source

StormWater Managemen t Mod el(SWMM) includes a modern graphi-

cal interface and a more intuitive

m odelin g approach. SWMM simu-

lates sin gle event o r con tinuo us

stormwater quantity and quality

prim arily for urban areas.

The runo ff comp on ent o f SWMM

sim ulates the op eration of drain age

areas that receive rainfall and

generate run off th at m ay in clude

pollutants. A routing compo n ent

simulates transport of runoff

th rough a system o f pipes, chan -nels, storage/treatment devices,

pum ps and regulators.

The free program, including

tutorials, can be down loaded from

www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/swmm. x


12/16


Garcia River TMDL

CONTINUED FROMPAGE 5

tran sfers also are h elping to m eet

th e TMDLs goals. Th e Con servation

Fun d an d The Nature Conservancy

recently teamed u p to p urchase

23,000 acres of lan d u sed for tim beroperation s that Warm erdam de-

scribed as on e of th e biggest sources

of sedimen t in th e watershed. The

two groups currently are inventory-

ing th e property for sedimen t sources

A Louisiana Pacific timber opera-

tion was sold to Mendo cin o Red-

wood Co. Bell said the new owners

h ave in vested h eavily in land

restoration an d h ave in dicated th ey

inten d to pu rsue a conservation -

mind ed approach that emph asizes

sustainable forestry practices. Athird tract of 1,200 acres in the

Garcia River estuary, form erly a

private ranch , h as been purchased

by th e state. Bell said h e expects

th at work to reduce sedimen t

discharges in t h e up per watersh ed

event ually will deepen th e estuary,

m aking it easier for salmon to acces

the rivers upper reaches.

The No rth Coast Water Boards

staff is studying the Garcia River

TMDL as a possible m od el for

TMDLs under development foroth er rivers in th e region,

Warmerdam said. Techn ical TMDLs

have been completed for 14 rivers

in th e region, an d 11 ot hers are in

developm en t (to view a list of North

Coast rivers and the status of their

TMDLs, visit waterboards.ca.gov/

northcoast/programs/tmdl/

Status.html#list).

Warm erdam said th e North Coast

Water Boards staff recogn izes th at

th ere are physical variation s in each

watersh ed, but m any of th e lessons

learned w ith th e Garcia River TMDL

will be applicable to sediment and

temp erature problem s in o th er

rivers in th e region . Bell said t h e

growin g nu m bers of fish return ing

to the Garcia River bodes well for

th e future of th at river as well as

oth ers in th e North Coast Region

th at follow its TMDL app roach .

Bell credited th e reboun din g fish

NPS News

After the Storm VideoAvailable

Profiles of three major watersheds and how they are addressing the

th reat of polluted run off are in cluded in a 30-minu te video pro-

gram co-prod uced b y EPA an d Th e Weather Ch an n el. EPA recently

acquired full righ ts to After th e Storm , m aking it available for broad cast

and for use in classroom s, at conferences and oth er fun ction s.

The pro gram h ighligh ts th ree case stud ies San ta Mon ica Bay, th e

Mississipp i River Basin/ Gu lf of Mexico an d N ew York C ity wh ere

polluted runoff threatens watersheds highly valued for recreation,

com m ercial fish eries and n avigation . Key scientists and water qu ality

experts offer insigh t int o th e problem s as well as solution s to run off

challenges.

For m ore information about th e program , visit www.epa.gov/

weatherchannel, or call (513) 489-8190 to inq uire about getting a free

copy. Broadcast qu ality t apes also are available on loan for use by cable

television stations and others. x

pected t o foster a closer working

relationship between staff of the

Central Valley Regional Water

Board, agricultural com m ission ers

in th e two coun ties and farmers.

The conditional waiver program

is intended to reduce runoff from

irrigated agricultu ral land s (see th e

Sprin g 2005 issue ofThe Runoff

Rundown at www.water-ed.org/

rundown.asp for more information

Fees For Ag Wa iv er


on th e programs). In addition to

th e Cen tral Valley waiver pro-

gram , th e Central Coast Water

Board has a separate program, and

th e Los Angeles Water Board is

scheduled to consider a waiver

proposal in November. Updates

on waiver programs are posted on

th e Sout h ern C aliforn ia Agricul-

tural Water Team web site at

www.scawt.com/index.php. x


13/16


n um bers to years of work on th e

origin al Garcia River plan , bu t

added th at th e TMDL played a

crucial role by cem en ting in place

key provision s of the p lan an d

requiring participation by all land-

own ers. Th e goal of the TMDLstated in th e Garcia River TMDL

implemen tation action plan is to

reduce sedimen t in t h e Garcia River

by 52 percent by 2049. The TMDL

assures, under a timeline, that in

th e wh ole Garcia River watersh ed,

th e erosion prob lems will be fixed

com preh ensively in 20 years. I call

i t th e watersh ed with a warran ty,

he said. x

Ah w ah n ee Water Pr in c ip l es


a wh ole different form of develop-

men t mod el to become m ore

viable. That m odel focuses on

usin g land m ore in tensively and

locat ing h ousing an d em ploymen t

centers n ear tran sit corridors. As

we move forward on th at effort , theWater Principles and the stormwater

run off [elemen ts] are and will be

part of th at developmen t pattern,

he said.

The State Water Board is cau-

tiously studying incentives to

imp lemen t practices like th ose in

th e Water Principles th at it could

offer to local com m un ities through

its grant and loan programs, Cant

said. With con trol over gran t an d

loan fun ding for projects such as

construction and upgrades of

sewage treatmen t plants and m u-

n icipal storm sewers, the Water

Board h olds a large carrot t o d an gle

before local com m un ities in n eed of

n ew or im proved in frastructure.

One such carrot is the State

Revolving Fund (SRF), which pro-

vides low-int erest loan s for waste-

water treatm en t facilities, water

reclam ation facilities an d im ple-

mentat ion of

non point source

projects or

programs. Cant

said th e Water

Board is stud y-

ing the SRF as apilot program

for encouraging

low-impact

development .

Communit ies

count on the

SRF program to

help them m eet

National Pollutant Discharge

Elimin ation System (NPDES) re-

quirements, she noted.

The State Water Board h as pro-

po sed to am en d its SRF policy tointegrate th e concept of

sustainability into the policy by

prom oting infill developmen t,

protect ing and enh ancing n atural

resources such as wetland s, water-

sheds and op en space, and by

encouraging efficient development

patt erns. The State Water Board

also said it is planning to expand

th e SRF eligibility criteria to allow

for use of perm eable paving m ateri-

als wh en existin g paving is dis-

turbed during installation of sewercollection system s.

By u sing carro ts such as th e SRF,

Cant said th e Water Board h opes

to d evelop a policy th at encou rages

local governm en ts to look closely at

land use decision s and ask if th ere

are alternatives that can in corporate

concepts from the Water Principles

to help solve problems of runoff,

water quality and even water

supply.

SCAG h as its own initiative,

called Compass, to encourage its

m ember agen cies to adopt n ew

developm ent p atterns con sisten t

with th e Water Principles. Th e

theory behind Compass is that the

way in wh ich an entire region

works can be tran sformed by chan g-

ing just 2 percent of the u rban area,

Pisano explained.

A key to making the concepts in

th e Water Prin ciples work is to get

them incorporated

into city an d

coun ty gen eral

plans and into

design s for specific

projects, Pisano

and Mackenziesaid. If we don t

get it into o ur

general plans an d

design of specific

plans and budget

plans, then I think

this will be an

uphill battle,

Pisano said. The Co m pass in itiative

seeks to en courage developers to

th ink o f features like bioswales and

perm eable pavemen ts as assets for

m arketing th eir products ratherth an as add-on features with extra

costs. For m ore in form ation on th e

Com pass initiative, visit

ww w.socalcom pass.org/2percent /.

Mackenzie and Pisano th ink it

will be easier th an it seems to

chan ge the sprawl tenden cies th at

h ave m arked Californ ias develop-

m en t for decades. Mackenzie said h e

is seeing recognition among local

governm ent officials th at a n ew

development m odel that blend s

growth with p reservation of n aturalresou rces such as water is an im -

perative, n ot an op tion.

For Pisano, t h e driving forces are

h ousing affordability and th e cost

of delivering com m un ity services to

spread-out com m un ities. Youre

seeing th e evolution of a differen t

urban development pattern emerg-

ing, h e said.

There is broad agreemen t th at th e

Water Principles can b e an im por-

tant p art of accomm odat ing

Californ ias pro jected p opu lation

growth while sim ultaneously

h elping to add ress its num ber one

water quality problem, nonpoint

source run off.

More information on the

Ah wah n ee Water Principles is

available at LGCs web site,

www.lgc.org/. Download a copy of

th e Water Prin ciples at www.lgc.org/

ahwahnee/h2o_principles.html x

Youre seeing

the evolution of

a different urban

development

pattern em erging.

Mark Pisano,Executive Director,

Southern California

Association of

Governments


14/16

kn owledge of hyd rology as well as

greater environmental awareness,

engineers are design ing n ew h ous-

ing developm ents with drainage

apparatus that takes a favorable

view of runoff an d th e natu ral

ability of landscape to d eter pollut-

ants from m igratin g down stream

and contributing to degraded waterqu ality. As opp osed to years past,

h ydrologists tod ay realize th e fast-

m oving stormwater con duits are

conveying a lot of junk to th e

ocean , Nestlin ger said.

That realization, coupled with

tighter regulatory limits on

storm water flows, has led to d evel-

opm ent o f en gin eered system s that

slow th e pace of dry weather and

stormwater flows by mimicking

natural processes while still preserv-

ing and protectin g lives and p rop-erty. Instead of qu ick disposal, so-

called d ry weath er flows are

directed to engineered wetland s

wh ere pollutan ts are naturally

biodegraded.

In Lagun a Hills, Hasan Nou ri

directs Rivertech , a sm all consultin g

firm specializing in sedim en t

transportation an d water quality

engineering. Nouri credits the

regions flood control designers for

doin g a fan tastic job in creating a

system that rapidly diverted storm

flows away from h om es an d toward

ocean d ischarge, but said chan gin g

awaren ess of en viron m ental imp act

has required a reassessment of that

strategy that returns water to

alluvial streams.

Society has demanded cleaner

rivers, streams an d ocean s, h e said.

In response to th at demand the

regulatory agen cies establish ed

Latterday Im agin eers Re-Think

Urban Runoff ManagementBY GARYPITZER

Orange Countys Disneyland

famously employed

imagineers to design and

build its amu sem ent park attrac-

tion s. Im agineering of a different

sort is still goin g on in O range

Cou n ty, focused on creative ways of

man aging runoff during both dry

and wet weather.In th e past, drainage systems for

residential developmen ts shun ted

wet and dry weather flows away

from th e area as quickly as possible,

th rough b ox culverts toward an

ocean disch arge. Ou r design

ph ilosophy in th e 1960s was to

m ake it small, fast-m oving an d easy

to m aintain , said Alan Nestlinger,

an Orange County hydrologic

consultant wh o spent 35 years as a

flood con trol en gin eer with th ecounty.

Th at milieu h as chan ged, h ow-

ever. Today, based on imp roved


Trash from runoff litters a

California beach.


15/16

I believ e th e dry

w eather flow is th e

biggest source of

pollution to o ur

streams, rivers and

beaches.

Hasan Nouri, Rivertech

[discharge] rules, an d it is th e job of

us engineers to be in comp liance

with those rules.

As regulators began to clam p

down on permitted disch arges in

the 1990s, Nouri engineered

storm water flows for exclusive, $1billion developm ents in south ern

Orange County that ensured peak

flows did n ot exceed pre-develop-

m ent rates while allowin g the

bypass of sand and gravel to do wn-

stream reaches and ultimately,

beach sand n ourishm ent. He ac-

knowledged th e plans require

necessary acreage to facilitate

runoff, but th at the

end result is

an am enity, not a

liability becauseth e need to treat

runoff to numeric

stand ards is elimi-

nated.

Nou ri said basin s

constructed in

coastal parks an d

golf courses arou n d

Newport Beach

m ore than 20 years

ago successfully

m inimized th e flood risk but did

n ot ad dress first flush an d dryweather flows, which are th e m ajor

sources of non point source pollu-

tion . I believe th e dry weath er flow

is th e biggest source of pollution to

our stream s, rivers and beach es,

Nouri said. Wh en we have dry

weather flow con tributed b y urban-

ized areas day after day, week after

week and mon th af ter mon th we

sen d lot of pollutan t loads to the

receiving waters.

Wh ile associated with th e Orange

County Flood Control District,

Nestlin ger said h e saw th e ben efits

of Nou ris approach after a structu re

was installed on a tributary of

San tiago Creek th at allowed sedi-

m ent to m ove as part of the flow.

I was amazed at th e performan ce

of the structure, he said. It not

on ly stopped bank erosion, but th e

stream bed restored itself with in a

year or two. With t h at, I became an


advocate of his

approach.

Th e drainage

solutions de-

signed by

Rivertech ad-

dress the contradictory require-

m ents of open space protection ,flood p rotection and pollution

con trol, Nestlin ger said. He ac-

knowledged the challenge associ-

ated with re-designed flow manage-

m ent, n amely the fact th at acreage

is n eeded to facilitate th e convey-

ance. Retrofitting existing sites is

never easy, requiring investment

and the p ossible condemn at ion of

private prop erty, h e said.

Environm entalists, who are

h appy to see developers take a m ore

sustainable approach to run off

management, embrace Rivertechs

approach. In th e beginn ing, we

m ade our p oint via l it igation,

said G arry Brown , executive director

of Oran ge Coun ty CoastKeeper.

Now, th eyve got th e m essage.

Brown said th e problem of

polluted runoff became glaringly

apparent in th e sum m er of 1999,

wh en officials were forced to close

Hun tington Beach for exten ded

periods, damaging the reputation of

Surf City and h arming th e local

econ om y. Th e gravity of the situa-

tion h as con vin ced developers to

agree to comply with n um eric

pollutant standards as identified in

th e stringen t Californ ia Toxics Rule.Thats ho w m uch weve raised

th e bar in O range Coun ty, Brown

said.

A particularly noteworthy

example of revised runoff manage-

men t can be found at the Irvine

Companys 115-acre Pelican Hill

golf resort along the Newport Coast

Situated n ear Crystal Cove State

Park, a sen sitive marin e environ -

m en t, th e project features a state-of-

th e-art water m anagemen t system.

Seven subterran ean cistern s each

h olding as m uch water as on e-and -

a-half Olym pic-size swimm ing p ools

capture and h old run off th at is

m ixed with reclaim ed water and

used for irrigation .

Brown said the mixture of re-

claimed water with naturally treated

run off provides a greater margin o f

safety th an use of reclaim ed water

alon e for land scape irrigation . x

Natural an d constructed

wetlands f ilter runoff.


16/16

If you w ould like t o receive this

newslett er electronically, please

send your ema il add ress to:

[email protected]

Share Your Success

Have an interesting story to tell about you r non point

source pollution control or storm water program?

Wh y not sh are your experien ce with oth ers th rough

The Runoff Rundown? On e of the goals ofThe Runoff Rundown is

to b e a forum for sh aring ideas that h ave successfully reduced

n on point source or urban run off. These can b e programs or

policies initiated by cities, local an d region al agencies, regional

water board s, or in th e private sector. To sh are your story, con tact

Glenn Totten, Water Education Foundation, at (916) 444-6240,

or send e-m ail to [email protected].

717 K Street, Suite 3 17

Sacramen to, CA 95814

Phon e: (916) 444-6240

Fax: (916) 44 8-7699

www.watereducation.org

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Non-Profit O rganization

U.S. Postage

PAIDSacramento, CA

Permit No. 430

Fall 2005 California Runoff Rundown Newsletter

Documents

Transcript of Fall 2005 California Runoff Rundown Newsletter