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Water Quality Improvement Plans

The City collaborated with other jurisdictions and stakeholders throughout the San Diego Region to develop Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIP) for each watersheds within its jurisdiction. The goal of the WQIPs is to protect, preserve, enhance, and restore water quality of receiving water bodies. This goal will be accomplished through an adaptive planning and management process that identifies the highest priority water quality conditions within a watershed and implements strategies to achieve improvements in the quality of discharges from the Responsible Agencies' storm drain systems.

The City of San Diego is the lead on the WQIP development for the San Dieguito, Los Peñasquitos and Mission Bay watersheds. The City is also a participating agency in the San Diego River, San Diego Bay and Tijuana River watersheds. For more information on the plans and annual reporting, please visit the link below:

The City of San Diego prepared the PDF icon Mission Bay Watershed  WQIP FY 21 Annual Report.  The PDF icon Mission Bay WQIP FY 21 Annual Report includes additional information related to the City actions to address water quality regulations and improve water quality shown in the online dashboards.

To estimate the funding need for implementing the WQIP strategies, the City developed a robust cost tool that calculates and organizes the annual cost for each strategy. For more information about the development of the tool, anticipated costs and potential improvements, see the fact sheet below:  

To support the development of the WQIPs, the City performed a literature review and accompanying analysis to quantify potential pollutant load reductions associated with certain non-structural best management practices or strategies. The results are summarized in the following technical memorandum:

Jurisdictional Runoff Management Plan

The City's Jurisdictional Runoff Management Plan encompasses citywide programs and activities designed to prevent and reduce stormwater pollution within City boundaries. Read more here.

Stormwater Fee Study

The City of San Diego Stormwater Fee Study was completed to meet a requirement in the Settlement Agreement and Release for the City’s Master Maintenance Program and Programmatic Environmental Impact Report. The Agreement stipulates that the City shall complete a fee study, conducted by a third-party expert, within three years of the effective date of the Agreement (Sept. 27, 2013) and shall post the Fee Study on the City Stormwater Division’s website by Sept. 26, 2016.

Watershed Asset Management Plan

The Stormwater Division has prepared the following Watershed Asset Management Plan to identify the broad investments required to maintain the City's stormwater management system. The plan is consistent with the City's general asset management practices and is one of the first comprehensive asset management planning efforts in the stormwater field that addresses both flood risk management and storm water quality. The Plan incorporates the strategies identified in the Comprehensive Load Reduction Plans also available on this page as a foundation for meeting the requirements and compliance standards of the new Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit issued by the Regional Water Quality Control Board on May 8, 2013.

Comprehensive Load Reduction Plans
(2013 Update)

The following Comprehensive Load Reduction Plans (CLRPs) are the second phase of an ongoing effort to identify the projects and funding levels needed to comply with stormwater regulations established by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. These updated plans expand on the methodology and rationale presented in the initial CLRP documents filed with the Board on Oct. 4, 2012 (available below). The City will continue to refine the project list and cost estimate presented in these plans and expects to post further updates at a future date. The City encourages public evaluation of these documents and welcomes questions, comments and suggestions for improvements.

Comprehensive Load Reduction Plans

Bacteria-1 Total Maximum Daily Load

Areas of Special Biological Significance

Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) are areas unique in marine diversity and opportunity for beneficial use and research. There are 34 ASBS along California's coast where water quality is monitored by the State. Two of these areas are located off of the La Jolla coast.

Master Stormwater System Maintenance Program

The City of San Diego has adopted a Master Stormwater System Maintenance Program for flood control facilities in neighborhoods across the City. The Master Program will allow the City to better identify flood control channels requiring maintenance services over the next five years. Each fiscal year, the City will identify a small group of channels that have deposits of sediment and overgrowth of vegetation requiring maintenance to restore flood control capacity.

Strategic Plan for Watershed Activity Implementation

In 2007, the Stormwater Division created The Strategic Plan for Watershed Activity Implementation as part of the requirements of the 2007 Municipal Storm Water Permit (NPEDES Order No. R9-2007-001). This document has been replaced by the Water Quality Improvement Plans.

 

Surveys

As part of the Stormwater Division's commitment ot pollution prevention, surveys are conducted on a regular basis to gauge the public's knowledge of stormwater and help guide our outreach efforts and Division priorities.

Water Quality Studies

The Stormwater Division conducts many studies on many subjects including pollution prevention and flood protection efforts. These studies allow the Division to improve efficiencies and maximize benefits to the community and the environment.