Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 3, 2008
4. Water Quality
County approves law to limit runoff in creeks; Goal is to lessen pollutants in county waterways, but questions remain on how to enforce the rules
San Luis Obispo
By Bob Cuddy, staff writer
County supervisors gave final approval this week to a new local law that in theory will reduce storm water runoff in rivers and creeks, although they sidestepped questions on how they would enforce it.
The Storm Water Pollution Prevention and Discharge Control Ordinance is designed to ensure that impure substances don’t end up in streams and aquifers. It is required by the state and federal governments.
The proposed law raised some residents’ hackles last year because it essentially prohibited people from washing their cars in their driveways.
Supervisors in January changed the proposal to allow car washing.
On Tuesday, the board only did minor tinkering to ensure that the ordinance could not be read in a way that would hurt cattle grazing.
Mark Hutchinson, environmental program manager for the
Some of the exceptions, in addition to car washing, are water-line flushing, landscape irrigation, uncontaminated pumped groundwater, springs and water from crawl-space pumps.
The ordinance applies to all county-owned storm drain systems and all natural streams within most developed lands in the unincorporated areas.
There are more than 1,300 miles of roads in unincorporated areas of
Mike Winn, a member of the Nipomo Community Services District board, said he supports the law but wanted to know how the county intends to enforce it. The county has said it hopes to have voluntary compliance after a series of educational programs.
But Winn said, “Education doesn’t always take.” #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/322057.html
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