The most common pollutants found in rivers and on beaches are trash such as fast-food wrappers, cigarette butts and styrofoam cups, as well as toxins like used motor oil, antifreeze, fertilizer, pesticides and pet droppings.
Items left in streets, schoolyards and parks are washed down by rain and irrigation into catch basins and then into pipelines that drain to local rivers or directly into the ocean.
Local storm water is not treated at a sewage treatment facility unlike the waste water in your home. This is why some beaches are closed after rains and why some surfers get sick.
What you can do
Pet Care
Always pick up after your pet! Place pet droppings in the trash or toilet. Bacteria in pet waste can cause disease in swimmers.
Home Care
Take the extra step and place all trash in a trash can!
Contact the agencies listed below for natural alternatives to household cleaners.
Pesticides and Fertilizers
Only use if you must. Pesticides kill and they can be dangerous to your health. Contact the agencies listed below for natural alternatives.
Fertilizers contain nutrients which can lead to excess algal growth in rivers and rob fish of oxygen.
Do not apply either of these before watering or rain so that they do not get washed into the storm drains.
Automotive Care
One gallon of motor oil can pollute one million gallons of water. If you do your own maintenance, take your used oil and filters to a certified collection center, and take antifreeze, paint, batteries, and other chemicals to a Household Hazardous Waste Round up. Contact LA County or the City for the next Roundup in your area.
(1-888-253-2652)
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
Common daily activities of the thousands of industrial/commercial businesses in Los Angeles Region leave behind tons of exposed pollutants. Every day in the region, millions of gallons of untreated urban runoff washes all types of exposed pollutants off of properties and city streets, into storm drains and finally into receiving waters such as channels, rivers and the ocean. On rainy days this polluted runoff combines with storm water runoff, resulting in up to 10 billion gallons of polluted storm water/urban runoff that flows through the storm drain system to the ocean without treatment. These polluted flows cause public health and safety concerns at the beaches, kills and contaminates aquatic life, destroys habitat, and leaves behind hundreds of tons of waste that costs taxpayers millions of dollars annually.
The problem in Los Angeles County has been experienced in urban areas nationwide and has lead to the 1987 amendments to the Federal Clean Water Act regulating storm water/urban runoff. Established under the Clean Water Act, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations protect receiving water quality through two primary objectives: (1) effectively prohibit non-storm water discharges to the storm drain system, and (2) reduce the discharge of pollutants to the storm drain system to the maximum extent practicable through the implementation of control measures called "best management practices" (BMPs).In California, Federal and State NPDES regulations are enforced by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), and nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards requiring certain facilities to file a Notice of Intent (NOI), and implement a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) to control storm water pollutants (e.g., manufacture of asphalt, concrete, vitreous and steel products). The RWQCB has also issued a Los Angeles Countywide Municipal NPDES Permit which requires all cities in the County to implement a wide variety of activities under extensive programs to remove pollutants from storm water/urban runoff.
As a Permittee under the Countrywide NPDES Permit, the City of Inglewood adopted Ordinance to allow implementation of the programs required by the Permit. Codified in the Inglewood Municipal Code as Article 15 of Chapter 9, "Storm Water and Urban Runoff Controls," the ordinance includes the following requirements for owners/operators of industrial/commercial facilities: obtain permits for all connections to the storm drain; discharges to the storm drain must be composed entirely of storm water except as permitted; implement appropriate BMPs; regularly sweep and clean all parking lots with 25 or more spaces; and comply with all applicable NPDES requirements.
One of the programs the City is required to implement is the Industrial/Commercial Educational Site Visit Program. Under the program, City representatives must meet with representatives of specified facilities to inform them of the storm water/urban runoff problem, applicable NPDEs requirements, and appropriate BMPs by which the facility's pollutants can be minimized. For additional information and assistance, please refer to the contact information below.
IMPROVEMENT OF CATCH BASINS
This project will be the first of several phases to upgrade the City’s catch basins in an effort to eliminate trash and other run-off pollutants in storm drains, per the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements.
Whom to Contact
Los Angeles County Environmental Hotline:
888-CLEAN-LA (253-2652)
http://www.888cleanla.com/
California Environmental Protection Agency
916-255-2200
http://www.calepa.ca.gov/
Earth's 911
800-CLEAN-UP (253-2687)
http://www.1800cleanup.org/
City of Inglewood Public Works Department
Environmental Compliance Section
310-412-5333
State Water Resources Control Board
Division of Water Quality
Attn: Storm Water Permit Unit
916- 341-5536
www.swrcb.ca.gov/stormwtr/industrial.htm
Regional Water Quality Control Board
Region 4: Los Angeles
Dennis Dickerson, Executive Officer
Robert Tom
213-576-6754
rtom@rb4.swrcb.ca.gov
