California’s cities spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year to manage their clean water obligations, yet violations persist with no clear end in sight. Stormwater pollution is ubiquitous, and commercial, industrial, and institutional properties are a significant and unaddressed part of the problem, contributing between 35–60% of stormwater pollutants. … Under two recent bills that stalled out in Sacramento, commercial stormwater permit holders would have had the option to meet their obligations by funding regional stormwater projects — green infrastructure, stormwater capture, wetland restoration — at the watershed scale.
–Written by Sean Bothwell, executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance.