A major source of contamination in today’s water bodies is storm water and run off from urban surfaces. Oils, grease, bacteria, sediment, trash, chemicals, and other pollutants are flushed off the streets and into the drains where it goes completely untreated into the nearest creek, river, lake or ocean. As a result some water bodies are completely impaired and our beaches unsafe, especially during and after rain events. Living in Southern California it’s easy to see the effects of urban runoff. Our beaches get covered with litter and debris, our rivers lined with trash, and the water quality extremely poor almost everywhere.
That’s why we are proposing a small step in the direction of stopping this source of pollution. While there are much better ways to treat storm water and prevent urban runoff pollution on new developments (such as infiltration basins, bio-swales, porous pavers, etc.) there is an enormous amount of infrastructure out there that must be dealt with. If we only treat the new developments (built from the year 2000 forward) which in some areas of Southern California is less than 2% of the developed area, then we will never achieve the water quality we need when 98% of developments still pollute. Thousands and thousands of catch basins are out there that have no treatment, no filtration whatsoever and never will unless we do something. They will keep on discharging trash and pollution into our water.
This is our proposal. We want to install drain filters into every privately owned basin that currently isn’t being treated and maintain those filters on a regular basis. We would provide the filter as long as someone sponsors the maintenance. Drain inserts work very well at removing sediment, trash, and even oils as long as they receive regular maintenance. If they are not maintained they become overwhelmed with trash and pollution and stop working. It is the best and easiest way to treat exiting basins that are currently discharging directly into the storm drain without doing a major retrofit. The inserts will fit into the existing drain and the water will receive at least some treatment.
The insert is made out of non-woven geo-textile fabric that is recyclable. There are no redeemable parts (no one will steal them), and they last for three years. The have two layers of media pouches, one designed to remove oils from the top layer and one pouch designed to remove sediments, metals, nutrients, etc. from the bottom layer as it passes through the filter. It also removes 100% of the trash. By sponsoring the drain, we will stencil the sponsors name above the drain. We will maintain it regularly and take pictures of all the trash and debris so you can see how much you have prevented from entering the storm drain system. All of the debris will be disposed of properly, ensuring that once it’s out of the drain its taken care of the right way.
Remember that these are all drains that would otherwise have no filter, no treatment, and anything that gets into them will eventually get into our waters. Please consider this program for you and anyone you know that wants to pitch in for a great cause. We have prevented tons upon tons of material from going into our water.
What are the benefits?
- Very beneficial for the environment, removes trash sediments, chemical, metals, grease etc. from storm water.
- Storm drains are not sent to treatment plants, what goes in goes straight into oceans
- Very visual, literally see hundreds of pollutants per year per filter
- Program targets drains that would otherwise remain unfiltered
- Adds to a company’s repertoire of green practices (so as we get our first major we’ll add them to site)
- 1 filter removes more than 1 person spending 7 full days of beach cleaning per year 1 day beach cleanup removes approx. 25 lbs. – Black Widow removes approx 175 lbs/ year of trash and debris
Help us win the fight to get our water quality back!