For those who’ve lived in San Diego for any size of time, you little doubt have heard the time period “Suppose Blue” — the metropolis’s long-running outreach marketing campaign to remind locals that every little thing spilled, dumped or tossed on our streets will finally work its manner into the pipes that drain onto our seashores.
That marketing campaign is extra well timed than ever within the aftermath of the days-long storms that swept into San Diego and the remainder of the state.
Bethany Bezak, the interim director for the metropolis’s Stormwater Division, delivered this week to metropolis leaders the company’s annual report, which she known as a “very well timed presentation given the importance of the rain we have now had” and the necessity to adequately fund the division’s operations.
In her presentation to the Metropolis Council’s Atmosphere Committee, Bezak identified that whereas San Diego did expertise increased rainfall, it averted the ache of different California areas. However she cautioned that there may be at all times the potential that it may face the identical penalties, utilizing the instance of a storm that hit San Diego seven winters in the past.
“If we had obtained the quantity of flooding they obtained up north it might have been the equal of the El Niño storms in 2016,” she stated.
Throughout that time, there have been intensive infrastructure failures on account of flooding in lots of areas of our area. Pictures proven to the Atmosphere Committee had been stark reminders of how critical the storms had been.
The flooding, Bezak stated, was triggered partially by “pipe failures that required emergency repairs.” To place it into perspective, the El Nino destruction was the results of 3 inches of rain over 5 days. By comparability, latest storms dumped 2-1/2 inches domestically, 5 inches on Los Angeles and greater than 12 inches on the Bay Space.
Officers stated the division wants $335 million yearly to do its job correctly, but receives solely 30% of that. And this doesn’t embrace the price of potential emergencies that would possibly happen as a consequence of growing older and failed infrastructure.
The annual report notes that for years the division has been underfunded, which is frequent information to metropolis administration. Stormwater officers stated lack of funding and the necessity to react to emergencies are the explanations the division however can’t be as proactive as it ought to be.
Stormwater prices are anticipated to rise sooner or later, the division stated, given a altering local weather with longer intervals of drought throughout which particles and trash accumulate within the stormwater system adopted by “intense rain occasions that set off flash floods.”
The Stormwater Ddepartment offers with the quite a few parts of storm runoff along with sustaining the town’s huge stormwater system to cut back flood danger. Examples embrace flood channels close to Mission Bay Excessive Faculty and within the Mission Gorge Space, catch basins all through the town and a fleet of sweeper vehicles that cleaned 61,000 miles of streets final 12 months.
The report detailed how the metropolis ready for Tropical Storm Kay, which hit the area final September. Metropolis crews inspected essential drains and pumps throughout the system, together with emergency channel upkeep at Chollas Creek, close to Nationwide Avenue, eradicating 4 ft of trash and sediment buildup that had constructed up earlier than the rain, which helped decrease the attainable affect of flooding to adjoining houses and companies.
The report additionally notes the town’s 15 pump stations are “important to defending communities from flooding as they shortly take away or reroute water away from individuals, property, and significant infrastructure”. However 4 of these stations ” presently have emergency infrastructure wants, which if all failed may trigger over 160 acres of flooding, impacting companies and houses.”
One purpose for the approaching 12 months, Bezak stated, is to proceed to create a “stormwater harvesting system” to seize floor water and divert it right into a sanitary sewer system for future use.
A call-in speaker, former state Assemblymember Lori Saldaña, referenced a Los Angeles Occasions article that reported that metropolis had collected greater than 10 billion gallons of stormwater since final October.
“It’s time for San Diego to take a look at the choice” of a bond measure to a create a big seize system,” stated Saldaña, who was on a presidential committee to deal with cross- border water points.
Longtime native environmentalist Jay Powell echoed her sentiments, saying this could turn out to be a precedence for the town. He added that although the division is reporting some funding sources for a self storage program, “we have to do one thing extra aggressive to encourage houses and companies to have critical sorts of storage.”
The complete metropolis council will obtain the report within the close to future for overview and attainable motion.
