Heal the Bay's Executive Director Looks Back on the Stormwater Program's 20 Years

by Mark Gold

After 20 years, the City of Los Angeles’ stormwater program is at a crossroads.

The program has come a long way since its beginnings in the early nineties as a result of the Hyperion consent decree and new regulations under the federal Clean Water Act and the first countywide stormwater permit. The City has done a superb job on stormwater education for students, businesses and the public. During the early 1990s, we worked closely with the City on our Gutter Patrol program where volunteers helped stencil tens of thousands of catch basins all over the city. Today, the City runs the program and you can’t find a catch basin in the city without a “No Dumping” stencil.

Los Angeles has led the way on clean beaches by installing about a dozen dry weather runoff diversions. I still remember the press event with Mayor Bradley for the first diversion at the Pico-Kenter stormdrain at Santa Monica Beach. Dry weather runoff diversions have transformed numerous “F” beaches on Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card into “A” beaches during the summer months. Soon, thanks to Proposition O funds for year round dry weather runoff diversions, most LA beaches will soon get “A”s for the entire year. Runoff diversions have protected the public health of millions of swimmers and helped restore the image of beautiful and safe Santa Monica Bay beaches.

Another milestone for the City was the passage of Proposition O. Over 76% of the public voted for the 500 million dollar measure to clean up our rivers, lakes, beaches and bays by reducing stormwater pollution. Proposition O is providing the capital funds needed to divert dry weather runoff, clean up Machado Lake and Echo Park Lake, capture and infiltrate runoff for local water supply in the Valley, and infiltrate stormwater in the Santa Monica Bay watershed to help clean up the Bay.

Although the pace of the projects isn’t as fast as I would have hoped, the vast majority of Proposition O projects are good projects that reduce runoff pollution and provide other benefits such as greening the City, reducing flood risk and augmenting local water supplies. Unfortunately, Proposition O only pays for building the projects themselves. The funds can not be used for operations and maintenance so the new projects are actually adding to the watershed protection programs ongoing budget difficulties.

Recently, the City has changed their approach to stormwater pollution prevention. They’ve always talked a good game on watershed protection, but in the last few years, there has been a transformation that has gone beyond calling the department the Watershed Protection Division. The division developed a Water Quality Compliance Master Plan that takes an engineering approach to linking watershed planning with water quality compliance.

The City is about to pass a far reaching Low Impact Development ordinance that will require new and redevelopment to capture and reuse or infiltrate 100% of the runoff generated from a three quarter inch storm. The ordinance will make developers, business and homeowners partners in efforts to reduce stormwater pollution and augment local water supplies by helping to create a green infrastructure in the City. I hope that the City will move forward with green streets and alleys requirements that will further the move towards Mayor Villaraigosa’s vision of making LA the cleanest, greenest major city in the country.

Finally, the City was an innovator in stormwater program funding. Back in the early 1990s, the City created a Stormwater Pollution Abatement Charge (SPAC) to pay for new programs. Unfortunately, thanks to Proposition 218, the City Council lost the ability to increase SPAC fees without a two thirds vote of the electorate. As a result, the SPAC has not been increased in nearly 20 years. The cost of the City’s stormwater and watershed protection program should be approximately $120 million a year, yet the SPAC generates less than $30 million a year. Even today’s stormwater and watershed protection programs cost the City about $60 million a year, so there the program always has to compete for general funds: an extremely difficult task in a poor economy.

Despite two decades of progress and the vision of Mayor Villaraigosa, the promise of Los Angeles’ efforts to transform into a City with a green infrastructure that protects our fundamental right to clean water is in jeopardy unless we do something to solve the funding crisis. Clean water is a necessity, a legal requirement and a right and is not something to be sacrificed during tough economic times. The challenge is, will we be bold enough to move forward on the promise and vision of a green LA with clean water, or will we maintain the status quo.

Mark Gold is president of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental organization.

Click here to view all of the articles in Issue 9 of the LA Stormwater newsletter.

Mandatory Water Conservation Hits Los Angeles

Southern California is facing a water supply shortage for the third year in a row. Most of Los Angeles’ water supplies are imported and the sources of this water are greatly impacted by drought and regulatory restrictions. As a result, the City of Los Angeles is calling for drastic water conservation.
Due to this water shortage, on June 1 the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) initiated billing changes to Los Angeles customers. Under these new rate changes, the amount of water DWP rate payers are able to purchase at the lowest price – as indicated on monthly bills as “Tier 1”, will be reduced by 15%. Customers already conserving 15% of their Tier 1 allowance will not be affected. However, customers who exceed their monthly Tier 1 allotment will be charged the more expensive Tier 2 rate for every gallon used over Tier 1. These customers will see their water bills rise.

"Los Angeles, quite famously, has imported most of its water since the advent of the Los Angeles Aqueduct almost 100 years ago. Today, with both a natural drought statewide and a regulatory drought due to restrictions placed on the importation of water from the Delta, our water supplies are significantly reduced. We have no choice but to enact mandatory conservation," said David Nahai, LADWP Chief Executive Officer and General Manager. "We all must do our part to cut back on our use of water - especially outdoors, where water can most easily be saved."

The shortage rates program being imposed by LADWP is not the same as water rationing. Under a water rationing program the LADWP would allot a certain amount of water for each customer. Instead, the LADWP is implementing a shortage year rates program. Each customer is allotted 15% less water at the lowest Tier 1 rate, and if the household does not exceed this fixed amount of water, they will avoid paying a higher rate. This “price signal” is intended to encourage customers to conserve water.

In addition to the shortage year rates program, a sprinkler ordinance also went into effect on June 1, making it illegal to water lawns on any day except Mondays and Thursdays. The City now prohibits watering landscaping between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., which includes water that could flow to the storm drain. Also prohibited is the washing off of sidewalks, driveways and the washing of vehicles with a hose unless it has an automatic shut off device. Restaurants have also been impacted; when dining out, patrons will only be served water if they specifically request a glass. LADWP encourages everyone to work together to conserve water. A LADWP water conservation hotline has been set up to report violators. Call (800) DIAL-DWP (800-342-5397) to report someone wasting our city's most precious natural resource.

“It is our hope that these restrictions and rate increases will help individuals conserve water, which is not an endless resource in Southern California,” says Stormwater Program Manager Shahram Kharaghani. “It is the joint goal of the Stormwater Program and the Department of Water and Power to reduce the amount of water consumers use, and in turn help to reduce stormwater runoff contributed by individual households during our dry summer months.”
For easy household water conservation tips, please visit http://www.bewaterwise.com/.

Click here for the e-newsletter article.