A drop of rain runs along La Jolla Shores, dirty with auto emissions from Interstate 5. Along its journey, the raindrop likely commingles with motor oil and copper dust. Eventually, the droplet rolls into a drain and is channeled out into the oblivion of the La Jolla Ecological Reserve.
According to state law, that polluted water flow is not allowed to run into the waters off La Jolla Shores because the state designated it an Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS). Discharge is completely prohibited from running into the ASBS, and discharges that do receive exceptions must ensure that their runoff is largely pollutant-free, which includes dirty storm water.
The state created the two ASBS zones at La Jolla Shores in the 1970s in order to preserve the natural state of the biologically diverse ecosystem. Thirty-four ASBS zones exist along the coast of California, with only those two in San Diego.
Despite the rules, the State Water Resources Control Board found 1,658 discharges flowed into ASBS areas in 2000, causing the control board to clamp down on cities and entities along the coast that discharge pollutants.
“Zero discharges we know are not 100 percent achievable, and we do not expect that,” said Chris Davis, spokesman for the water board. “We do expect runoff, but runoff that is clean and that will not affect the sea life in the areas.”
In order to bring La Jolla’s two ASBS areas up to par, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), the City of San Diego and CoastKeeper have banded together to reduce storm water runoff and attempt to eliminate dry weather flow from running into the ocean.
“The flow is commingled and a watershed approach is definitely the best,” said Meleah Ashford, a water resources engineer with Ashford Engineering. “You look at the whole watershed “¦ and try to do a much more collaborative approach.”
The collaborators call the project the La Jolla Shores Coastal Watershed Management Plan. The state water board awarded the project a $3.6 million grant at the World Oceans ’06 Conference, and the State Water Quality Resources Control Board gave $500,000 to the initiative.
The plan takes two routes. The first objective focuses on reducing the pollutants flowing into the ocean. SIO is working to identify the many sources of pollution within La Jolla’s watershed, which includes any area that directs water to La Jolla Shores. Both SIO and the city are devising strategies to treat or abate the pollutants. The partners must implement their solutions by March 2010 to comply with the grant.
SIO is spearheading the next phase in which scientists will research the ASBS zone in depth to determine how the regulations actually affect the ocean’s ecosystem.
“So we’re trying to put some science into the equation and bridge that gap to say, ‘Are we really impacting the ocean; and how; and where do we need to focus our efforts to do the most protection to that area?'” Ashford said.
Also as part of the second phase, SIO will attempt to create an information management system that will centralize all the data being collected, from water quality testing to biological testing. The data need to be available to scientists, policy makers and the public for them to derive solutions and knowledge from it, Ashford explained. She referenced the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System as an example of a mass database of oceanic information that’s made accessible.
SIO expects to quickly finalize its ideas for implementing phase two and will submit a planning grant by December.
As for reducing runoff today, SIO and the city have a host of ideas for La Jolla. The city plans to divert three of its drains to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant to filter its dry-weather flow instead of sending it directly into the ocean. The dryweather flow includes chemicals from over-irrigation or car washing.
The city is also considering placing infiltration landscaping along the unpaved areas on La Jolla Shores Drive to capture and absorb some of the runoff. Another favorable option is to replace the asphalt concrete at the Shores parking lot with pervious concrete that better absorbs the storm water instead of letting it flow into the ocean.
“Right now we’re trying to explore all of those options that make the best sense for the community, that are the least disruptive and are the most cost effective,” said Jennifer Nichols, spokeswoman for the city’s Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program. “Because the last thing that we want to do is put in some huge facility.”
SIO will also implement low-flow diversion drains, infiltration landscaping and pervious concrete as well as surround its trashcans with berms to prevent dirty liquid from escaping. The institute will also try sand filters to stop particulate matter from flushing into the ocean and launch erosion control projects to stop soil from feeding into the drains. To better monitor Birch Aquarium, SIO will work to prevent nonindigenous species from entering the ASBS and upsetting its ecological balance.
In February, SIO sampled its storm water to evaluate its current state of discharge. Scientists identified four culprits out of the 80 on the regulatory list that exceed the stringent state levels, according to Kimberly O’Connell with the University of California, San Diego, Department of Environment, Health and Safety.
In the sample, SIO found excessive levels of copper, typically eroded from car brake pads; turbidity, usually from sediment and erosion; atmosphere deposition, which is airborne particles from auto emissions; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, often found in asphalt, roofing tar and from forest fires.
“The limits for copper in the Ocean Plan are much, much lower than what’s in drinking water,” O’Connell said. “If you were to pour drinking water into the ocean, you would be in violation of the Ocean Plan.”
The level of pollutants allowed in the ASBS is so low that SIO isn’t sure if the regulation is technically feasible. SIO is at the forefront of attempting to comply by the rules in order to lead the way for other entities to clean up their discharges along the coast.
“Ideally we’ll come up with solutions so that the other dischargers don’t have to go through this whole process,” O’Connell said. “They’ll already know what may or may not work before they get there.”
Within the SIO campus, the institution has already embarked on a multimillion-dollar project to separate its storm water and seawater pipes that drain into the ocean in order to better monitor the quality of the storm water.
For information about the watershed management plan, visit http://sio.ucsd.edu/ or www.sdcoast
keeper.org.