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Mayor asks for more time on storm-water rules
By: MICHAEL BUCHANAN - Staff Writer | ∞
TEMECULA ---- City officials are asking for more time to study tougher clean-water regulations that could cost the city millions to implement.
Mayor Mike Naggar addressed the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board during its regular meeting Wednesday and asked for six more months to implement the proposed regulations, which the water quality board is scheduled to approve in April. Cities then would have one year to comply with the new rules.
The water quality board is tightening up the regulations to bring its storm-water permit for Southwest County into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. The permit, which expired in November, applies to the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Riverside County and the Riverside County Flood Control District and sets regulations as to what flows into storm drains and creeks.
While the actual rules haven't changed much, the regulations require municipalities such as Temecula to create and enforce stricter local rules for how residents, businesses and developers affect the Santa Margarita Watershed. Naggar said the city wants to comply but will need more time to get the community and businesses on board.
"We want to do it in a way that's effective, rather than create rules just to create rules," he said.
The watershed is the area that encompasses the creeks and waterways that flow into the Santa Margarita River. Run-off from construction, neighborhoods and other sources flow into the watershed and seeps into the groundwater supply or flows downstream through Camp Pendleton to the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists for the water quality board claim the stricter regulations are necessary to prevent future pollution problems, but the municipalities involved claim the heightened enforcement is too aggressive and will cost them millions to put into practice.
Similar regulations have already been adopted in San Diego and Orange counties and have been challenged in court. A San Diego Superior Court judge rejected a lawsuit brought by the Building Industry Association of Southern California in February 2003. The builders association is appealing that decision.
Contact staff writer Michael Buchanan at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or mbuchanan@californian.com.
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