State Water Board staff seek input on proposed urban stormwater infiltration policy

Welcome to the State Water Board's public meeting on the proposed urban stormwater infiltration policy, Amanda McGee, senior engineering geologist and Storms Unit lead in the State Water Resources Control Board's Division of Water Quality, told attendees at the start of a virtual workshop.

Staff framed the workshop as an early-input meeting rather than a decision session and asked stakeholders to provide written and verbal comments during the informal comment period. "Are we including too much? Are we not including enough?" Kelly Rodman, a water resource control engineer in the storms unit, asked attendees as she outlined the draft policy's scope and components.

The proposal seeks to encourage capture and infiltration of urban stormwater while protecting groundwater quality and beneficial uses, staff said. Officials tied the policy to statewide water-supply goals and drought planning, noting the Governor's 2022 California Water Supply Strategy goal to increase annual water supply by 500,000 acre-feet and the Department of Water Resources' 2020 Water Resilience Portfolio as background for prioritizing stormwater capture.

At the workshop staff identified barriers the policy aims to address: regulatory inconsistency across permits and local ordinances; unclear siting and design guidance for infiltration systems; concerns about potential adverse impacts…