Developers Must Curb Runoff, Board Says

In a sweeping effort to prevent Los Angeles County beaches from becoming more polluted as population grows, the region’s water quality board Wednesday approved standards to require new building projects across the county to limit urban runoff that fouls ocean waters.

Under the hotly disputed measure, major new developments, from shopping centers to gas stations to housing subdivisions, will have to be designed to collect or filter most rainstorm runoff that flows from roofs, parking lots and other pavement.

The 6-0 vote by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board came after months of conflict that pitted developers and officials from most Los Angeles County cities against local environmentalists.

“This is the most significant action the regional board has ever taken to control storm-water pollution,” David Beckman of the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council said after the vote. “It is not the total solution, but it’s a meaningful step that will get at the problem.”

But builders were upset over the measures. “This policy is a shot in the dark with no chance of improving water quality,” said Ray Pearl, deputy director of the Building Industry Assn. of Greater Los Angeles. “It’s not only bad science but bad policy.”

The new requirement is part of a fledgling effort to clean up beaches, from Malibu to Long Beach, that rank among the nation’s most polluted.

Los Angeles County joins a handful of places in the country, including Phoenix and Florida, that have restricted the amount of pollution that flows off urban land. Rarely has the issue incited as much rancor as it has in Los Angeles County, where local control over development is held almost sacrosanct.

At the nine-hour hearing Wednesday, officials representing nearly all of Los Angeles County’s 85 cities unsuccessfully urged the board, which is an arm of state government, to reject the runoff standards. They expressed concerns about the potential cost to developers and uncertainties over how well new storm-water control techniques will work.

“This is probably going to cause economic hardship in our cities,” said Bruce Barrows, a Cerritos City Council member and vice chairman of a council of 27 southeastern Los Angeles County cities. “We want standards that all cities can live with.”

Los Angeles, Santa Monica and West Hollywood were among the few cities endorsing the new standards.

In its vote, the water quality board directed its executive officer to put the measures in place. City governments will then be required to adopt ordinances within six months to implement the standards and ensure compliance by developers.

With so many people and so much paved land, the Los Angeles region is believed to suffer the nation’s worst urban runoff problem, rendering many beaches unsafe for swimming.

Oily waste, pesticides, metal residue, pet feces and other pollutants wash off streets, roofs and parking lots into channels and drains that flow into beach waters. Runoff also contains human viruses and bacteria that can infect swimmers.

Year-round, even on dry summer days, enough runoff to fill the Rose Bowl contaminates Los Angeles County beaches within 100 yards or so of river mouths and storm drains. On a rainy day, the contaminated storm water is so voluminous that it renders all beaches unsafe with bacteria and viruses.

The runoff standard applies to new commercial projects of more than 100,000 square feet as well as new parking lots with 25 or more spaces, gas stations, auto repair garages, restaurants of more than 5,000 square feet and subdivisions with at least 10 houses.

Each project must collect or filter runoff from the first three-quarters of an inch of rain that falls in a 24-hour period. Developers will have a range of options to comply. One option is to plant grassy swales so runoff can seep into the ground instead of flowing into storm drains. Other options are to build detention ponds and trenches for collecting storm water or to install filters in curbside drains.

Dennis Dickerson, the water board’s executive officer, said the rule is designed to eliminate 85% of runoff from new developments. Only severe storms are expected to surpass the 0.75-inch threshold.

The measure will do nothing to clean up existing runoff that contaminates the county’s beaches. Instead, it aims to ensure that the problem does not worsen as the county grows with new buildings, parking lots and housing subdivisions. In many cases, it will mean more open space or vegetation around new buildings.

“This is a long-term response to storm-water control,” Dickerson said. “Any new development that comes in is a chance to do it right--to be more environmentally protective. It’s an opportunity to design for the future.”

Under the federal Clean Water Act, municipalities are responsible for cleaning up runoff “to the maximum extent practicable.” But in Los Angeles County, the debate over how to do it has persisted for a decade and the region lags behind many other areas in cleaning up runoff.

Officials in many cities said the new rules were the wrong solution to the problem.

“Runoff does affect our community. We are a coastal community. but we don’t have a clear picture to take to developers saying here’s what the benefits will be from your costs,” said Manhattan Beach public works director Neil Miller. “What seems to be missing is the relationship between the costs and the benefits.”

The city of Los Angeles, however, broke from the pack. Calling the state of the county’s beaches “a disgrace,” the City Council on Tuesday unanimously endorsed the runoff standards.

Craig Perkins, director of environment and public works for Santa Monica, which has been a leader in cleaning up runoff, urged “the strongest possible standard,” saying it will “reverse over a century of engineering practices” in designing developments.

For too long, he said, builders have routed storm water out to sea to prevent flooding without considering the damage to waterways and beaches.

In unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, builders have been required since last summer to meet similar runoff standards. County officials agreed to implement the standards to settle a Clean Water Act lawsuit filed by environmentalists.

In adopting the measure Wednesday, the water quality board rejected a compromise proposal from its staff that would have exempted runoff that flowed from rooftops of new buildings directly into storm drains. Besieged at a hearing in September with the overwhelming opposition, Dickerson had suggested excluding rooftops. That change would have cut the cost for developers, allowing them to build smaller and less costly basins and other controls.

Environmentalists strenuously opposed the rooftop exemption because many experts believe that air pollutants that fall on buildings wash into waterways when it rains.

“We should err on the side of caution. We should not have an exemption for rooftops; it’s way too big,” said water quality board member Francine Diamond, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Gray Davis. Four board members are appointees of Davis and three of former Gov. Pete Wilson.

The water board estimates that the runoff controls will amount to less than 0.5% of each new development’s total cost.

Building a detention pond for a five-acre, $6.5-million commercial development, for example, would cost $28,800, the board says. A grassy swale and trench would cost less, about $17,500, while a curbside drain filter would be the cheapest option, at $1,500.

Richard Lambros, executive vice president of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, said builders believe the control techniques will not work and that there is no way to measure their success.

Instead of a mandate, the builders wanted to try pilot programs.

The board also rejected a last-minute request by most cities to exclude residential buildings.

Under the adopted plan, cities will be allowed to grant waivers to developments where controls are “impracticable” because of small lots, unstable soils or threats to underground drinking water supplies.

The measure is a big step forward in addressing the problem, said Alex Helperin of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Controlling Runoff

A new standard requires major new buildings to control polluted runoff from the first 0.75 of an inch of rain that falls in a 24-hour period. Developers will have many options for how they comply, from building detention basins to planting grassy swales. Here is a breakdown of three options and their estimated cost for a typical, five-acre $6.5-million commercial project. The cheapest option is to install filters in curbside drains.

Detention basin

Total capital cost: $28,800

Annual maintenance: $33

Infiltration basin and

vegetated swale

Total capital cost: $17,550

Annual maintenance:

$1,350

Catch basin filters

Total capital cost: $1,500

Annual maintenance: $495

Source: Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and city of Los Angeles