Urban Runoff/Storm Water

In order to clarify the terms used throughout this section, the following definitions are provided for your convenience:

• Urban runoff is considered water originating from urban areas, including, but not limited to, rain, irrigation, wash water, and air conditioning condensate.
• Storm Water refers solely to water resulting from a storm event. However, many agencies still use the term “storm water” to refer to urban runoff.

As our population and economy expands, Oceanside faces many challenges in protecting our waterbodies. Increasing amounts of impervious surfaces are constructed everyday (e.g. sidewalks, streets, parking lots, buildings, homes, etc.), requiring a greater number of storm drains to carry rain water and urban runoff away from the City in order to prevent flooding. The majority of this water, however, is sent straight to the nearest waterbody without undergoing any treatment, such as filtration. Therefore, all the pollutants that accumulate on City streets, such as oil and other automobile fluids, metals, bacteria, sediments, trash, pet waste, chemicals and detergents, are flushed down storm drains and contaminate our creeks, rivers, lakes, lagoons and ocean. Water quality impairment of this magnitude creates public health risks in our waterways and hurts our economy when beaches are closed.

Construction sites have been identified as a large contributor to urban runoff pollution if the proper pollution prevention practices are not regularly performed. Sediments, trash, fertilizers, concrete wastes, washwater, hazardous chemicals, sanitary and septic waste and equipment fluids are a few of the many contaminants that construction sites may contribute to urban runoff. Due to this high potential for urban runoff pollution, all construction sites are required to implement pollution prevention Best Management Practices (BMPs). Additionally, sites over one acre are required to obtain storm water permits from the State Water Resources Control Board.

Urban Runoff Regulations: State vs. Municipal

The State Water Resources Control Board, a division of the California Environmental Protection Agency, has required since 1990 that construction sites over five acres obtain a storm water permit in order to discharge runoff into a city’s storm drain system or a local waterbody. This storm water permit mandates that regulated construction sites must develop and implement various programs to prevent the contamination of storm water. Additional information about the state construction activities storm water permit is listed in the State Construction Information page.

Locally, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, a division of the State Water Resources Control Board, has issued regulations to San Diego County jurisdictions regarding urban runoff pollution reduction and prevention. The San Diego Municipal Storm Water Permit, Order 2001-01, mandates that all San Diego County cities, the County of San Diego and the Port of San Diego develop and implement programs to reduce urban runoff pollution and improve the water quality of creeks, rivers, lakes and our ocean.

Order 2001-01 requires the City to establish regulations and guidelines for all industrial and commercial businesses, construction sites, municipalities, and residential neighborhoods. If a construction site has obtained a storm water permit with the state, then it may have already met the requirements for construction activities specified in this local order, provided it is in compliance with the state guidelines. If your site is not required to obtain a state storm water permit, you must follow the guidelines issued by the City.