Two nonprofits petition state board to demand stormwater permits from facilities that allegedly pollute Salinas Watershed.

With the goal of lowering alleged stormwater-driven pollution by local industrial and commercial sites, two nonprofits that work to protect clean and healthy water filed a petition on June 1 with the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

According to the California Coastkeeper Alliance and Monterey Waterkeeper, the institutional sites that generate runoff into the Salinas Watershed affect Gabilan Creek, Natividad Creek, Alisal Creek, Santa Rita Creek and the Reclamation Ditch.

The petition by the nonprofits demands that the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board implement its clout under the federal Clean Water Act to require stormwater permits for privately-owned commercial, industrial and institutional—often referred to as CII—sites throughout the Salinas River Watershed.

“The Salinas Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, while commercial and industrial sites occupy only a small fraction of the urban landscape, yet they generate more than a third of the heavy metal pollution entering our waterways,” said Natalie Herendeen, executive director of Monterey Waterkeeper, via a press release. “CII facilities have operated without any direct, enforceable obligation to clean up their stormwater for far too long. This petition will help us close this gap and provide safer water for our future generations.”

Sean Bothwell, executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance, concurred with Herendeen.

“Regulators have both the authority and obligation to require permits for commercial, industrial and institutional stormwater discharges that are polluting local waterways,” Bothwell said. “Our petition demonstrates that similar action is not only justified here, but urgently needed across California to ensure private corporate polluters—not the public—are on the hook to address these water quality violations.”

According to Bothwell and Herendeen, under the law, cities—not private commercial property owners—shoulder the legal and financial stress of addressing stormwater pollution. They added that the Central Coast Water Board's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems permit program regulates the City of Salinas’ public storm drain system.

“But it does not directly require the private CII facilities that generate a disproportionate share of pollutants to reduce their discharges. That gap has a direct consequence: CII sites generate approximately 34% of the watershed's copper pollution and 31% of its zinc pollution while bearing zero enforceable obligation to reduce those loads,” according to the press release. “As a result, the City of Salinas cannot achieve water quality standards no matter how stringently it is regulated—it simply does have the ability to control enough pollution sources.”

The California Coastkeeper Alliance and Monterey Waterkeeper have detected about 800 to 1,200 private facilities, that includes commercial retail corridors along North Main Street and Highway 101.

The Central Coast Water Board has 90 days to review the petition.