Stricter proposed California requirements for the city’s storm water runoff permit would negatively impact local businesses if they go into effect as they are.

A new storm water runoff permit, which could go into effect as early as next February, is currently under review by the State Water Resources Control Board. The draft regulations go far beyond what the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates and are estimated to add hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs to communities throughout the state.  The SLO Chamber recently joined the Statewide Stormwater Coalition (www.stormwatercosts.com), a collection of local governments, businesses and organizations throughout the state that are concerned about the potential impacts of a proposed permit. The Coalition is focused on achieving California’s clean water objectives in a balanced, practical and implementable manner.

“This isn’t about stormwater regulations. With no proven benefits, these draft regulations will be hugely burdensome, costly and unrealistic,” said Ermina Karim, San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce president/CEO. “The regulations are much more stringent and will cost more for local government and existing businesses to adhere to them. We would like to see much greater stakeholder input and consideration of implications. ”

Karim will be in Sacramento on Oct.6 testifying to a Senate Select Committee on California Job Creation and Retention on potential impacts to the SLO Chamber membership.

The draft permit, which grows the existing permit from 20 pages to more than 93 pages, has a one-size-fits-all approach rather than the more community-specific program that is currently in place in San Luis Obispo.

The new regulations are not expected to have tremendous new water quality improvements locally, SLO City Biologist Freddy Otte explained.

“It’s not really clear why they’re changing the permits, and that’s the scary thing,” Otte said. “This new permit brings in a couple of new elements that are not identified in the EPA’s Clean Water Act so the city won’t be reimbursed to implement it.”

The EPA identified six Minimum Control Measures (MCMs) for communities with populations under 100,000. But the draft permit expands on existing MCMs and adds new program elements, such as program management, a trash reduction program, an industrial/commercial facility runoff program and others.

“The industrial/commercial facility runoff control program will have the most direct impact on local businesses,” Otte said. “It includes a list of 35 types of industrial/commercial facilities, outside of farmers markets. This means there will be new things for the city to inventory and prioritize based on different pollution levels, and we will be required to select, install, implement and maintain the storm water best management practices (BMPs).”

For local businesses, this could translate into staff training, performing operations indoors, and retrofits of existing facilities to minimize exposure of operations to rain and runoff.

Currently, the city inspects about 300 businesses per year, as part of the Clean Water Act, including restaurants, gas stations, and auto repair shops among others. However, that number is expected to double once this permit goes into effect. The new permit will cover small employers, schools, ports, large industrial operations, restaurants, parks, farmers markets, even groups that hold car wash fundraisers.

“The city must figure out how to comply,” Otte said. “Currently, we budget just shy of $800,000 for this, but with the new permit, we’ll need about $1.7 million to comply. How we get from here to there is yet to be seen.”

This means that the cost will most likely be passed on to business owners, acknowledged Otte.
To contact the state water board, comments must be addressed to:

Jeanine Townsend, Clerk to the Board
State Water Resources Control Board
P.O. Box 100, Sacramento, CA 95812-2000