Four months ago, this week, a host of elected officials showed up at a San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing to appeal to Board members regarding the forthcoming reissuance of their Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit. Water Board staff permit writers effectively create policies on which neighborhoods get trash abatement, what types of… Continue reading Democracy and Environment
Category: Stormwater Pollution Prevention
Two Days of Hearings
The San Francisco Bay Water Board just wrapped up two days of hearings on the forthcoming reissuance of their Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit. The mayors of Concord, Orinda, San Ramon, and Antioch, the Vice Mayor of San Pablo, Contra Costa County Supervisor Diane Burgess, and councilmembers from Danville and Hillsborough addressed the Board, along with… Continue reading Two Days of Hearings
More on the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit
Last week’s post argued that municipal stormwater NPDES permits are social policy, not water quality policy. Because there is no reliable way to demonstrate that control measures are effective or ineffective, permit writers can and do select measures based on convention, consensus, and individual belief.Here are four examples where social values and beliefs play out… Continue reading More on the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit
Municipal Stormwater Permit
Because we lack reliable indicators of the effectiveness of municipal stormwater programs, permit renewals are essentially social policy, not water quality policy. In other words, permit writers can invent or select new requirements at will; the requirements may arise from convention, or consensus, or even individual beliefs, and can’t be challenged on the basis of… Continue reading Municipal Stormwater Permit
Programs and Purposes
I’ve been preparing comments and ideas and proposals for the up-for-reissuance San Francisco Bay Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit, and for the statewide NPDES permit covering small municipalities. NPDES permits are issued for 5 years, and this is, by my count, my fifth go-round. Here’s a challenge: Can anyone involved describe, in a few words,… Continue reading Programs and Purposes
SB 231
I’m watching and listening to a webinar with State Senator Robert Hertzberg on SB 231. The law, recently signed Governor Brown, creates an opening for municipalities to fund their stormwater programs with a fee similar to those charged for water or sanitary sewer service–if they can link the newly funded programs to a benefit for the… Continue reading SB 231
Work Therapy
I was up into the wee hours this morning, crafting a database management structure for tracking land development projects, stormwater treatment facilities, and inspections of same. I’d been in bed about an hour shen the kid called out, needing me to come in there and cuddle her back to sleep. 3:30 is a special hour… Continue reading Work Therapy
Green Infrastructure Plans
I made my way out to Martinez this afternoon to attend the Contra Costa Clean Water Program’s Management Committee meeting. The topic of the day is what municipalities should be doing now to prepare for a Green Infrastructure planning effort during fiscal years 2017-2019. I did my best to sum it up in this 2-page… Continue reading Green Infrastructure Plans
Training Opportunity
Next Wednesday (January 20th) I’ll be presenting a half-day workshop in Sausalito on Low Impact Development and stormwater NPDES compliance for land development projects. The following day (Thursday the 21st), I’ll be repeating most of the same content in a workshop in Napa. Info and registration for the Marin workshop are here. Info and registration for… Continue reading Training Opportunity
CASQA Conference
The California Stormwater Quality Association’s annual conference is October 19-21 in Monterey. I’m delivering two presentations there. The first is at a special workshop on the Central Coast Post-Construction Requirements. For those interested, my Powerpoint is here. The second presentation, in a Wednesday session on green infrastructure, summarizes my work creating eight conceptual designs for drainage… Continue reading CASQA Conference