Santa Barbara Creeks Division outlines stormwater program, launches pilot rebate for on-site stormwater measures

City Creeks Division staff briefed the Santa Barbara City Creeks Advisory Committee on the Storm Water Management Program (SWMP), described the division’s compliance and monitoring work over the last fiscal year, and introduced a new pilot sustainable stormwater rebate program for voluntary on-site measures.

Jim Rumbly, presenting the SWMP overview, said the program implements the city’s municipal stormwater permit and includes six primary components: construction runoff control; illicit discharge detection and elimination; outreach; post-construction standards; water-quality monitoring; and trash capture. Rumbly said the city tracks “about 200 plus measurable goals” for the permit’s annual report and that Creeks Division staff are the coordinating unit for permit compliance.

Rumbly cited recent metrics: 105 illicit-discharge reports received and responded to within the agency’s 24-business-hour response time last fiscal year; about 100,000 pounds of trash removed from creeks and beaches in a typical year; and 1,487 post-construction plan reviews by Creeks Division staff in the last fiscal year. He said the city receives many proposals for post-construction compliance tools — permeable pavement, bioretention, underground storage chambers, cisterns and retention basins — and described the tiered…