Stormwater, Drainage, Beaches

The City of Ventura, bounded by four miles of coastline, is committed to safe and healthy beaches, and protecting our natural environment.

What Is Stormwater?

Stormwater is a term used to describe water that comes from rain events. Stormwater that does not soak into the ground becomes surface runoff, which in Ventura flows through the storm drain system until it reaches the rivers or ocean.

How Does Stormwater Impact Our Watershed?

Stormwater that runs off impervious surfaces (roofs, streets, parking lots) gathers and transports pollutants such as oil and grease, chemicals, nutrients, metals, and bacteria. Stormwater is not a treated water source, which means everything picked up along its path will be deposited into the rivers and ocean. As stormwater flows across impervious surfaces, it is not percolating into the ground and replenishing underground aquifers. These aquifers are an important source of water to sustain our society.

Streams and other natural habitat can become overwhelmed by the greatly increased volume and speed of the stormwater flows, resulting in severe erosion and ecosystem impacts. These increased flows also increase the risk of flooding and necessitate costly flood prevention improvements.

Many of our daily activities have the potential to cause stormwater pollution. Car washing detergents , lawn and garden fertilizers and pesticides, pool/spa chemicals, oil, gasoline, paint products and many more such items are potentially hazardous and/or life threatening to plant life, people and animals, and were never intended for our watersheds, beaches and oceans. The "Don't Dump, Drains to Ocean" postings throughout each City within Ventura County is a continuing reminder that we all need to be concerned about stormwater. After all, the majority of these negative impacts can be reduced or eliminated altogether.

Check Out Ventura's Environment YouTube Channel and Sustainable Ventura's YouTube Channel For More Entertaining And Informative Videos

Safe And Healthy Beaches

Safe and Healthy Beaches introduces three mechanisms that preserve and analyze beach water quality here in the City of Ventura:

Beach Water Quality Diversion Stations (Dry Weather Storm Drain Diversions)
Heal the Bay's - Beach Report Card for Ventura County
Ventura County's Ocean Water Quality Monitoring Program

The City's Stormwater Connected To Ventura County's Watershed?

What drains into a creek in Ojai, Santa Paula or Thousand Oaks will eventually find its way into a river, onto the beach, and ultimately, the ocean. With gravity acting as the constant pull towards lower elevation, stormwater travels over a host of surfaces and co-mingles with other shedding waters (hence the synonymous term, watershed). As stormwater moves, it picks up and leaves behind myriad (mainly) preventable things such as trash, sediment, pollutants, toxins, pet waste, bacteria and animal feces.

Contrary to popular belief, stormwater does NOT go through a municipal treatment process: What's in stormwater stays in stormwater. When Ventura experiences a Beach Advisory or Closure, for example, stormwater (also referred to as "urban runoff") is often the cause. Upon reaching the beach/ocean, if water sampling demonstrates concentrated levels of bacteria or pollutants that pose a threat to people and wildlife, a "posting" will occur due to these unhealthy/hazardous conditions.

For Current Beach Postings, Sampling Results and Sampling History

Because cities are vitally linked by water, every municipality, resident and business alike, have a direct impact on water quality. Since 1992, the 10 cities within the County of Ventura have worked collaboratively as Community for a Clean Watershed, to protect our watersheds by preventing stormwater pollution and to meet clean water regulations.

Oil Recycling Program

Many household, yard and automotive products are considered hazardous materials that are too toxic to trash. Federal and State laws prohibit their disposal in the trash, flushed down the toilet or dumped down a stormdrain. These products are known to cause pollution to the environment. The City of Ventura provides a FREE safe way to dispose of may of these products through a monthly Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection event. Some specific products may also be taken to alternate sites. For more information on safe disposal and recycling, please note the 2012 Household Hazardous Waste Brochure:

2012 Household Hazardous Waste Brochure (pdf)

Also, visit Environmental Sustainability's Hazardous Waste & Toxic Reduction Page

About the Beach Water Quality Diversion Stations

Archy "Archy" - preventing pollution from entering the ocean improves beach water quality.

The State Water Board awarded the City of Ventura grant funding to improve beach water quality by constructing two dry weather stormwater diversion stations at the California Street and Figueroa Street storm drains. Most visible is the Diversion Station located on Figueroa St. adjacent to Surfer's Point. Referred to as "Archy", this cage-like structure houses a sliding gate that works in conjunction with the underground Storm Drain Diversion, sending untreated dry weather runoff to the City of Ventura's Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Technically speaking, the two stations divert dry weather storm drain flows from the California Street and Figueroa Street storm drains to the Ventura Water Reclamation Facility (VWRF). The diversions are intended to be operating at all times that the VWRF is not experiencing excessive levels of infiltration and intrusion associated with rain events. Each diversion has been designed to operate at a maximum of 40 gallons per minute.

Rain storms produce far more runoff than the VWRF can treat. In order to prevent rainwater diversion the stations are connected to rain gauges that interrupt pump operation during a rain event. Once a rain event ends, the instrumentation monitors lift station flow and pump duty cycles to automatically restart dry weather diversion when conditions allow. A manual override provides operations staff with the ability to interrupt and reinitiate diversion remotely based on the VWRF's ability to accept additional waste streams.

Water quality sampling analysis by Ventura County's Ocean Water Quality Monitoring Program and Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card for Ventura County provide critical public information about water quality on a year 'round basis. The City of Ventura is affected by what other upstream communities contribute to the watershed. What drains into a creek in Ojai, Santa Paula or Fillmore will eventually find its way into a river, onto the beach, and ultimately, the ocean. With gravity acting as the constant pull towards lower elevation, stormwater travels over a host of surfaces and co-mingles with various pollutants in the watershed. As stormwater moves, it picks up and leaves behind trash, sediment, engine oil drippings, toxins, pet waste, pathogens from animal feces, most of which can / should be prevented from entering a watershed in the first place.

When Ventura experiences a Beach Advisory or Closure, for example, stormwater (also referred to as "urban runoff") is often the cause. Upon reaching the ocean, if water sampling demonstrates concentrated levels of harmful bacteria that pose a threat to people and wildlife, a "posting" will occur due to these unhealthy conditions. Thus, our mission continues to remind Ventura residents and neighboring communities that (the vast majority of) stormwater does not go through a municipal treatment plant.

For Current Beach Postings, Sampling Results and Sampling History

For Information on the Watershed Protection District, CLICK HERE.

What Is The Clean Water Act and How Does It Impact Stormwater?

The Clean Water Act is a U.S. federal law that regulates the discharge of pollutants into the nation's surface waters, including lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and coastal areas. Early efforts to reduce water pollution focused on traditional point source dischargers such as industry, and sewage treatment facilities. In 1987, Congress amended the Clean Water Act to address municipal stormwater discharges. All governmental agencies responsible for discharging water from any source, including the stormwater drainage system, into rivers or oceans, must meet the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements of the Clean Water Act. The requirements are detailed in a NPDES Permit which outlines the specific actions under which agencies are "permitted" to discharge to waterways.

What is a Stormwater Permit?

In 1987, when Congress amended the Clean Water Act to address municipal stormwater discharges, all governmental agencies responsible for discharging water from any source (including the stormwater drainage system into rivers or oceans), were now required to meet the Federal Stormwater Program's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System or NPDES.

NPDES requires stormwater permits for point source discharges of stormwater from certain industrial activities and from large municipalities with a population of 100,000 or larger. Operating as a separate municipal storm drain system and discharging stormwater under the Ventura Countywide Stormwater NPDES permit requires specific actions be adhered to by the City of Ventura. In short, the NPDES Permit governs precisely how the City of Ventura is permitted to discharge to waterways.

Ventura County Stormwater NPDES Permit (774KB pdf)

Local Groups And Volunteer Opportunities

Matilija Coalition

The Matilija Coalition is an alliance of community groups, businesses, and individuals committed to the environmental restoration of the Ventura River watershed. Starting with the removal of Matilija Dam, we are working for the recovery of the bioregion to benefit the recovery of the Southern Steelhead trout and to restore the natural sediment supply to the beaches of Ventura.

Partners In Progress for a Beautiful Ventura

Partners In Progress for a Beautiful Ventura is a public and private partnership that encourages citizen participation to clean and beautify our City parks and beaches. Partners was formed in 1995 and continues as a cooperative effort between the City of Ventura's Community Services and Public Works Departments and the Ventura community. Over 450 volunteers participate with this program each year. The Partners In Progress office is located at Ventura City Hall.

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper's mission is to protect and restore the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds through citizen action, education, field work and enforcement.

Surfrider Foundation Ventura County Chapter

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves, and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

Ventura River Stream Team

In January 2006, Ventura Stream Team entered its sixth year of water quality testing in the Ventura River watershed. The program, which began sampling in January 2001, is a partnership of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Ventura Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Ventura Stream Team has three major goals: to collect scientifically sound, baseline data on the health of the watershed; to recruit and train a force of watershed stewards in the community; and to identify sources of pollution throughout the watershed.

Ventura Coastkeeper

Ventura Coastkeeper is a community based, non-profit, membership organization dedicated to protecting, preserving and restoring Ventura County's marine habitat, coastal waters, and watershed.

Community For A Clean Watershed

The Community for a Clean Watershed program was established by a coalition of stormwater quality management agencies in the cities and unincorporated areas of Ventura County that are working together to protect our watersheds by preventing stormwater pollution. The City of Ventura is an active participant in Community for a Clean Watershed.

Through the development of an educational public outreach campaign, brochures and the Clean Watershed website, the Community for a Clean Watershed program works toward raising awareness among residents and business-owners of the issues impacting the health of Ventura County's watersheds.

The Mission of Community for a Clean Watershed:

Enhance, protect and preserve water quality in Ventura County water bodies using proactive and innovative ideas for preservation of biodiversity, ecological viability and human health. Work as a countywide team with public agencies, private enterprise, the environmental community and the general public to locally implement Clean Water Act requirements, balancing the actions taken with social and economic constraints.

To learn more, please visit Community for a Clean Watershed.

Become a Mutt-Mitt Sponsor!

"Doo" the right thing! Become a Mutt Mitt Station Sponsor

HELP KEEP OUR COMMUNITY CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL!
Ventura's Mutt Mitt Program helps to keep our beautiful parks, beaches, public areas and ocean clean by providing degradable pet waste pick-up bags at dispensing stations throughout the City. With over 10,000 licensed dogs in the City of Ventura, and one million people visiting our popular parks annually, there's definitely a need to encourage everyone to "Doo the Right Thing!"

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