Program History

About the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program

The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) issued a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (the permit) to the County of San Diego, with the 18 incorporated cities, the Port Authority, and the Airport Authority as co-permittees. The permit requires each co-permittee in the region to develop a Jurisdictional Urban Runoff Management Program (JURMP). The goal of the City of Poway's JURMP is to protect and improve the quality of urban runoff and storm water in order to improve water quality within the local water bodies of Poway and Rattlesnake Creek, Lake Poway, and the Pacific Ocean.

To accomplish this goal, the city has established a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program. Essential duties of the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program include public education, inspections of industrial and commercial businesses and construction sites and municipal facilities, water monitoring, and enforcing activities related to compliance with the RWQCB's Municipal Permit. The city annually monitors and tests runoff water for common and priority pollutants at 50 monitoring stations to identify problem areas and improve education and outreach to the area. The goal of the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program is to ensure storm drain runoff does not pollute creeks, which ultimately has the potential to close beaches in the coastal cities.

Watershed Activities

In addition to the JURMP, the Municipal Permit also requires that the city collaborate with other jurisdictions on a watershed level. A watershed is the area of land that drains to a common discharge point.

Poway is in the Los Peñasquitos Watershed, along with the cities of Del Mar and San Diego, and the County of San Diego. Poway is also in the San Dieguito Watershed, along with the cities of Del Mar, Escondido, San Diego, and Solana Beach, and the County of San Diego. These agencies have jointly developed a Watershed Urban Runoff Management Program (WURMP) to collectively reduce pollutants in the water bodies throughout the watershed. The WURMP describes the collaborative plans and efforts to reduce the impacts of urban activity on receiving water quality within the Los Peñasquitos and San Dieguito Watersheds to the maximum extent practicable (MEP). As with the JURMP, an annual report is required by the RWQCB, which is prepared jointly by the co-permittees.