The city recently announced a plan to roll out a new two-year pilot program beginning in April that would add a few extra days of street sweeping in certain parts of the city to help keep trash and debris out of San Diego’s bays and creeks.
To stop certain metals and other pollutants from entering Mission Bay, Chollas Creek, San Diego Bay and La Jolla Shores, the city’s Stormwater Division plans to add two new vacuum-assisted street sweepers to current routes. Some residents in North Park, Normal Heights and Kensington-Talmadge would see sweeping increase to twice a week starting April 1.
The street cleaning program will begin April 14 for the communities of Clairemont, Linda Vista and other neighborhoods near the Mission Bay watershed.
The twice-a-week schedule for La Jolla communities along Hillside Drive, La Jolla Shores Drive, Torrey Pines Road will begin in September. According to Mayoral Spokesman Bill Harris, commercial areas along El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue swept once a month will now be cleaned twice per month.
Signage will go up this month to notify the public of any changes in parking restrictions.
“People are really going to have to be on their toes and pay attention to the parking restrictions so we can get the street sweepers in and get the maximum benefit,” Harris said.
Analysts would weigh and measure the collected debris and report back to the city at the end of the 24-month program, he said.
At a cost of about $870,000, the study is part of the city’s efforts to comply with storm water permit regulations issued by the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board, said Jennifer Nichols Kerns with the city’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Department.
To keep the region’s watersheds as clean as possible, city officials want to reduce the amount of dissolved metals and bacteria loads going into the Chollas Creek Watershed. They also want to reduce pollutants flowing into Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS) at La Jolla Shores, Kerns said.
These areas have been designated by the state as needing special protection since they are home to a variety of marine life, according to city documents. Information about the city’s stormwater programs can be found at www.sandiego.gov/thinkblue.
The new sweepers complement the city’s current fleet and are expected to pick up more debris than the ones the city uses now. The vacuum sweepers should be better at picking up pollutants such as copper and other metals that come from passenger vehicles, Kerns said.
“So that’s part of the study”¦we’re testing between the different types of sweepers to see which is more effective and which is more efficient,” she said.
Kerns said the city might keep the new sweepers and sweeping schedules depending on the results of the study.
“If it’s decided that these machines are more effective and cost less taxpayer dollars, then by all means we would recommend it,” she said.
To study the trash, Kerns said the city has contracted with infrastructure redevelopment firm Weston Solutions. The firm would weigh and analyze the collected debris and is expected to report its findings by early summer 2010, according to city documents. The city plans to use the findings for making future cleanup plans, she said.
Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, said that the city is on the right track but that the street sweeping program is a only a small piece of bigger plans needed to address the urban run-off pollution problem.
“I don’t want people to get the false impression that street sweeping alone is going to solve the problem. There are other components,” Reznik said.
He added that future plans for storm water and urban run-off should expand to include cleaner-burning, more fuel-efficient street sweepers as well as “low-impact development” projects that reduce urban run-off from new construction sites.