WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS

New Year’s Resolutions to Prevent Stormwater Pollution As we wind down our holiday festivities, it’s a natural time to reflect on the year gone by and to make resolutions for the new year ahead. What better way to ring in the new year than by being a clean water steward and preventing stormwater pollution? Pollutants such as pet waste, trash and yard waste, fertilizers, pesticides, and automobile fluids can be carried to storm drains by rain and irrigation runoff and can end up in our local waterways and ocean without being treated, causing harm to our aquatic life and even human health. Below are some ways you can meet your new year’s resolutions and help preserve the beauty and quality of our waterways!

• Learn more about pollutants that impact our waterways – The County of San Diego’s Watershed Protection Program has a variety of resources on impacting our San Diego County waterways. Water-savings landscaping webinars are available for guidance on designing a sustainable landscape  to prevent runoff that carries pollutants to our waterways. Check out I Love A Clean San Diego’s blog webpage that focuses on zero-waste topics such as Zero Waste New Year’s Resolutions and Recycled Crafts: Toilet Paper Tube Binoculars. Begin teaching your children early on how to be clean water stewards by using these children’s resources.
• Take actions to prevent water pollution – Participate in cleanups on your own in your local community or through organized cleanups offered through I Love A Clean San Diego and Surfrider. Take steps to reduce, reuse, and recycle through the County of San Diego’s Recycle Right and Organic Waste Recycling programs. Attend in-person or online workshops on composting and waste reduction, WaterSmart landscape classes, and the many other pollution prevention events January 2023 Special Events held throughout the year. Report stormwater pollution and irrigation runoff using the County’s interactive Report Storm Drain Pollution Map.
• Commit to being a clean water steward – Many pollution prevention organizations have developed campaigns to educate people about the harm that pollutants can cause to waterways as well as pledge programs to help motivate them to commit to taking action. Some of the local campaigns and pledge programs include Project Clean Water’s Dude! Be Cool, Don’t Dump Campaign and 52 Ways to Love Your Water Pledge Program, as well as Surfrider’s Rise Above Plastics campaign. Getting involved in these efforts today can make a huge difference in protecting the quality of our waterways in years to come.

The County wishes all its residents a very happy and pollution-free new year! Learn more about how stormwater pollution is impacting San Diego County and what the County is doing to preserve the beauty of our waterways through its Watershed Protection Program.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Find My District

ONLINE SERVICES

Report Stormwater Pollution
Report observed pollution to the correct jurisdiction.

Citizen Access Portal
Research property information and permits. Apply for some permits online.

GIS Maps
Find property information including zoning designation with our web-based mapping tool. 

Watershed Protection Website
sandiegocounty.gov/stormwater

Learn more about available water quality rebates that you could apply to your property!

Project Clean Water efforts are focused on providing a centralized point of access to water quality information and resources for San Diego County Watersheds. Click HERE to visit Project Clean Water’s website.