The Stormwater Report

On March 1, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a $687 million emergency drought relief package following his January declaration of a drought State of Emergency. The package includes $549 million from the accelerated expenditure of voter-approved bonds for infrastructure grants for local and regional projects that are already planned or partially completed. Projects [...]

In a Jan. 24 certiorari petition, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule again on whether the district is liable for exceeding water quality limits in protected waters. The district participates in a multijurisdictional stormwater permit, and data cannot conclusively show that excess water pollution is coming from [...]

California’s $25-billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which will deliver water to Southern California, is now open for public comment. The plan is an application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a 50-year permit. It includes two 56-km (35-mi) long tunnels and three intake pumps [...]

In mid-October, a California appeals court ruled in affirmation with a state trial court that stormwater permit requirements are federal mandates not subject to state reimbursement. The case involved Los Angeles County’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Permit (MS4), which requires the county to reduce discharged pollution by the maximum extent practicable. The permit adopted [...]

On Aug. 8, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Los Angeles County Flood District is liable for violating its municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit. Its monitoring station data allegedly documented discharges of pollutants higher than those established in the permit. However, the county argued that the monitoring data was not [...]

Following a public hearing on Jan. 15 at which nearly 200 residents voiced concerns, Los Angeles County officials decided to rethink the county’s proposed stormwater parcel fee. The goal of the fee was to raise $290 million per year to improve stormwater management and comply with new state regulations. However, as a result of the [...]

On Jan. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled to overturn a Ninth Circuit Court decision. The Supreme Court supported Los Angeles County’s view that water flowing between natural and channelized sections is simply a transfer of the same water and should not be seen as a permitted discharge. “Under the Clean Water Act, does [...]

On Dec. 4, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case — L.A. County Flood Control District vs. National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) — focusing on stormwater discharges in the Los Angeles area. During oral arguments, all parties in the case agreed that the transfer of water through concrete-lined sections of the Los Angeles and San [...]

In mid-November, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit. The stormwater permit set total maximum daily loads (TMDL) for 33 pollutants and covers Los Angeles County and 84 cities within the Los Angeles County Flood Control District — [...]

A March 2011 appeals court decision held that the flow of water from one portion of a river through an engineered improvement into a downstream portion of the same river constitutes a regulated discharge of pollutants under the Clean Water Act (CWA). By this ruling, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit would be required. [...]