("Urban Runoff article", continued from last page)
management programs to control it.
* Under section 402 of the CWA, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water permit is required for: all construction sites where 5 or more acres are disturbed; discharges from municipal separate sewer systems serving populations of 100,000 or more; discharges associated with industrial activities, including construction sites of five acres or more; and other discharges identified by the EPA or a state as needing an NPDES permit because they contribute to a water quality violation.
* The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 established a program for states and territories to voluntarily develop comprehensive programs to protect and manage coastal water resource. There are 29 states with federally approved coastal zone management programs. The reauthorization amendments of CZMA of 1990 specifically charged the coastal states with developing upgraded programs to protect coastal waters from runoff pollution. This program is nationally administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CZARA applies to construction sites where less than 5 acres are disturbed and applies to storm water runoff from roads that is carried by municipal separate storm sewer systems that serve populations of less than 100,000.
With a conscious effort to change our ways and with diligent watch guarding to ensure that the regulations that we have are enforced, we can affect some change on the effects of urban runoff.
Here are a few tips to help prevent urban runoff:
* Reduce erosion and runoff in your yard by minimizing paved areas. Plant groundcover plants.
* Install gravel trenches along driveways and patios to collect water and allow it to filter into the ground.
* Apply herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer sparingly and according to directions.
* Keep litter and pet wastes out of the storm drains.
* Dispose of used motor oil, antifreeze, paints and household chemicals properly. Contact your local hazardous waste collection site.
* Never drain your pool or hot tub into a storm drain or driveway without first checking the chlorine level. All chlorine residue should be gone before you drain.
* Inspect and maintain your car to prevent oil leakage.
* * Wash your car at a local car wash instead of on the street.
* Participate in clean-up activities.
* Encourage your elected officials to support legislation to protect water resources.
* Get involved in local planning and zoning decisions.
* Educate others about the evils of urban runoff and how they can do their part to prevent it.
A SUMMER LOST
HUNTINGTON BEACH CLOSURES
For the second time in less than 10 years, the greater Huntington Beach coastline had been hit with a localized ecological and recreational disaster. Soaring bacteria counts in late June alerted the Orange County Health Care Agency to declare parts of Huntington State Beach closed to water access. Huntington State Beach, the second most visited state park within the 250 park system with 2.5 million visitors in 1997-98, was closed to water access some 65 days, during the last summer of this millennium. In late August the closure extended into Huntington City Beach which claims 10 million yearly visitors, and further north, closing almost 5 miles of some of the world's most heavily accessed recreational surf zone.
Predictably, throughout the duration of this closure many business leaders and a few politicians have paid scant attention to the massive loss of recreational use of this stretch of coast, and more ominously the larger looming national problem of urban runoff to the ocean. Swimmers, surfers and sand castle builders were all banned from access to the Pacific Ocean, where tens of thousands migrate for regular, sometimes daily year-round recreation. Instead of supporting the people's hard won health and safety victories in the recent implementation of AB 411, (a law which allows that the County Health Officer controls the posting and closure of contaminated beaches through science instead of politics), a few politicians have actually been working towards a legislative "solution" which would gut the precious scientific safeguards and let local politicians decide when to re-open polluted beaches!
We wish to commend the Orange County Health Agency and the Orange County Sanitation District for following the Health and Safety laws of California and taking prompt and sound action to protect those of us who enter waters along our coast. We are still concerned that no "official source" of the high bacteria counts has been identified, although it may point to contaminated urban runoff within the City of Huntington Beach.
The Surfrider Foundation believes that the only way to prevent future debacles is to invest in our infrastructure, look much harder at the "upstream" issues of urban runoff, leave the science for the scientists and teach our citizens that our California coastline is our most valuable resource.
--Don Slaven and Chris Evans
