Surface Water Quality in Oceanside

The City of Oceanside developed the Clean Water Program to help protect the water quality of our watersheds. A few years ago, City Code Chapter 40 (296 KB) was revised to include new water quality regulations issued by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (SDRWQCB). In addition to these regulations, the SDRWQCB is mandated by the Federal Clean Water Act (section 303d) to also regulate local waterbodies by issuing a numeric pollutant limitation amount called a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). These TMDLs are intended to mean that a waterbody has been found to be impacted by a particular pollutant; therefore limitations have been set to reduce the pollutant amount. For example, if water quality monitoring has been conducted on a certain waterbody and scientists see a high level of sediment in the water, the SDRWQCB can tell the cities or county responsible for the waterbody that only a certain amount of sediments can be present in the water at all times. The SDRWQCB has issued a list of the TMDLs for San Diego waterbodies, click here to view the list (108 KB). Hopefully, the list is not too confusing. Make sure to look on the left side of the page for the waterbody you seek to learn about.

TMDLs are periodically updated by the SDRWQCB. Cities and counties must spend a significant amount of money to ensure that they can reduce the pollutants in each waterbody to meet these standards. However, in order to meet these standards, government agencies must rely on residents and businesses to not let pollutants into our sidewalks, streets, gutters and storm drains.