New Filter Captures Runoff Pollution
November 30, 2002
By MARTY GRAHAM
NSTAFF WRITER

SOLANA BEACH ---- In less than an hour Friday morning, nearly a dozen surfers pass the storm drain on Sierra Street that has been pouring E. coli bacteria, which grows on feces, onto the beach at the same surf spot where they are heading.

On their way, the surfers also pass Greg Kent and Shawn Hill, of the Oceanside-based Bio Clean Environmental Services Inc., while they install a special filter in the storm drain. City officials hope the filter will kill off the bacteria and control the oil, sludge and filth that have been running through the pipe under the Seascape Surf beach access walkway, and draining into the ocean just south of Fletcher Cove.

The storm drain filter, which the city of Solana Beach purchased and Kent installed for about $1,000, is part of a new storm drain technology all San Diego County cities may have to install in the next few years.

In February 2001, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board clamped down on cities, putting high fines in place for local governments that don't control the pollution that travels through city and county storm drains into creeks, lagoons and the ocean. While the regional board hasn't fined anyone yet, cities see the day when fines ---- and even tougher standards ---- may be coming their way.

Storm drains, which go directly into the ocean, are a particular problem for local governments. What ends up in them is random: oil, gas, rubber particles from normal vehicle traffic; fast food trash and cigarette butts; human and animal waste; plant clippings and the pesticides and fertilizer that goes with them; the soap and grime from people washing their cars and hosing off their sidewalks.

Anything that goes on the ground can end up in the drains. And the governments, while they have legal responsibility for the contents, say they don't have a lot of control over what ends up there.

Even while Kent and Hill are installing the new drain filter, a handful of mini-polluters ---- what water experts call 'non-point sources' ---- show themselves. A maintenance man rolls a full dumpster to the middle of the street where a trash truck lifts, up-ends, empties and sets the container down, scattering small bits of trash in the street. Three dogs come by, one on a leash and two off. Someone drops an empty plastic water bottle in the gutter, and a gardener up the street trims plants.

Kent points to the sludge, plant waste, trash and oil sheen on the water collected at the pit of the storm drain that's open so they can work on it.

"Last week, when we looked at this, it was clean," he said. "You can see why it would come down to filtering this."

For $1,000, the workers install a fiberglass shelf that catches and channels all the water coming in from the street through a filter basket.

The basket, which can be removed by hand, contains what Kent calls a filter boom. It looks like a large sock full of cardboard shavings and it catches oil and sludge, while the larger holes in the filter catch plant matter, trash, and whatever else comes down the pipe. The four booms installed Friday have also been treated with an antibacterial to kill the bacteria that's making its way into the ocean.

"It has to be cleaned quarterly, but we've got it set up so it's very easy to clean," Kent said. "A standard city truck can pull this grate off and then vacuum it out."

The booms need to be replaced four times a year, he added.

No one can guarantee that the filter system will work, because no one knows how the E. coli is getting into the pipe, but extensive testing and monitoring by Solana Beach left them believing the filters were worth betting on.

"There's no way to point fingers because it's all of us and it's part of growth and progress that we have to clean up," Kent said. "The question comes down to if clean water is worth paying for, and this says that to Solana Beach, it is."