Reducing Storm Water Pollution

A New Regional Permit to Control Storm Water Pollution

October 14, 2009 – The San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board has adopted the final Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit, which improves the regulation of pollution entering the Bay through city storm drains. For the first time, almost all of the large municipalities in the Bay Area will have a consistent set of regulations to help protect the Bay’s water quality and wildlife from pollution washed from city streets such as trash, oil, pesticides and fertilizers. San Francisco Baykeeper has advocated for nearly four years to achieve stronger regulations over storm water in the Bay Area, and we’re pleased that the permit sets high standards for protecting the Bay from trash.

Unfortunately, the permit still has large loopholes in the regulation of new development in the Bay Area, and it doesn’t aggressively address contamination from dangerous legacy pollutants like mercury and PCBs. Baykeeper will continue pressing the Regional Board and working with local cities to help keep all forms of storm water pollution from harming the Bay and its wildlife.

Read media coverage of the regional stormwater permit.

A Low-Profile But High-Impact Source of Pollution to the Bay

Every day, pollution like trash, oil, pesticides, fertilizers and household chemicals are washed into the Bay by rainwater and water from our sprinklers, spouts and hoses. Paved concrete and asphalt surfaces on roads, buildings and parking lots send rainwater rushing into gutters and storm drains. This polluted storm water – carrying all the pollution it collects along the way – then gets emptied into creeks and sloughs that empty into the Bay.

Storm water pollution is the largest source of pollution to San Francisco Bay. Each pollutant can have impacts on the plants, animals and people that depend on the Bay:

Pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals poison the aquatic food web;

Bacteria and other pathogens make waterways unsafe for recreational activities like boating and swimming;

Dirt from construction zones and eroded creeks cloud the water, destroying habitat and impeding healthy plant growth;

Trash such as plastic bags and bottles, and cigarette butts suffocate and disable wildlife.

A New Phase in Baykeeper’s Effort to Reduce Storm Water Pollution

San Francisco Baykeeper has worked for twenty years to reduce storm water pollution to the Bay by challenging weak regulations of storm water at the municipal and regional level. Unfortunately, regulations have been largely ineffective in actually reducing storm water pollution to the Bay. For example, Bay fish are still unsafe to eat because of high PCBs and mercury concentrations, and many Bay Area creeks cannot support healthy fish populations because of pesticide contamination.

Baykeeper is now shifting our efforts to support a growing movement to address storm water pollution through low impact development. Low impact development ("LID") aims to stop storm water pollution before it occurs by designing buildings, roads and public areas in a way that mimics nature’s way of processing rainwater – letting it percolate, filter and gradually flow into groundwater, creeks, streams and the Bay. Click here to find out more about Low Impact Development.