Runoff Regulations Could Put Property Owners in Hot Water
Everyone agrees that Orange County has a problem with storm water running into the ocean and fouling the county’s beaches. But what to do about it and who should pay for the fix are multibillion-dollar questions.
Federal and state laws require water boards to meet and adopt water quality plans periodically. By the end of the year, the two regional water quality boards that have jurisdiction over Orange County are set to meet and decide who will foot the bill for cleaning OC’s runoff. The San Diego board’s plan, which would cover South County, may be adopted as early as this week. The Santa Ana board’s plan, which would apply to north and central OC, will be up for adoption Dec. 19.
Both would set up a system of increased inspection and make individual owners responsible for cleaning up the water running off their property.
A study funded by the Orange County Stormwater Coalition estimates that the two sets of proposed regulations could cost cities and property owners in the county more than $5 billion in the next five years.
The Stormwater Coalition,made up of the California Association of Community Managers, the Orange County Business Council, the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks and the Building Industry Association,wants regulators to take a different, and cheaper, regional approach.
The coalition maintains that upgrading the aging sewer systems in OC, which are part of the ocean-pollution problem, and adding some regional storm-water treatment facilities, would be less expensive and could be funded in large part by available federal funds.
“The development community is not against clean water, it’s against shouldering the burden of the costs,” said Daniel K. Winton, a partner with the Irvine office of the law firm of Snell & Wilmer LLP and the chairman of the Business Council’s regulatory committee. “We would like to address the issue on a watershed basis, rather than on a city-by-city basis.”
Under the proposed permits, local jurisdictions would be required to monitor and police households and businesses, fining them for allowing polluted runoff to escape. The coalition maintains that zealous enforcement would target things such as hosing grass clippings off a sidewalk or washing a car in a driveway.
More important, though, the plans mandate inclusion of runoff-control basins and facilities in projects to build or renovate office and industrial buildings or develop residential subdivisions of 10 units or more.
Such a permit process is long overdue, according to an environmental group spokeswoman.
“We support it (the permit) and believe it should have been implemented a long time ago,” said Karin Moran, bluewater project coordinator for Surfrider Foundation USA, the San Clemente-based nonprofit, environmental group that works to protect oceans and beaches.
“We’re at the point where we can’t not support this permit process,” Moran said. “We understand it will cost money, but we believe it will cost much more in the long run if we wait any longer.”
The problem with looking at the issue on a project-by-project basis, according to Winton, is that increased regulation leads to increased costs for construction and development and in turn higher home prices, rents and fees.
“The real solution lies in spending money on repairing the county’s sewer pipelines and providing regional stormwater treatment facilities,” says a coalition fact sheet. “Many cities nationwide have found stormwater utility districts to be cost-effective approaches to cleaning water.” n
