City Grows Stormwater Filtering Program
Over the past few years, the City has placed great emphasis on protecting its creeks and waterways from polluted stormwater runoff. One of the effective tools that the City has used to ensure that only clean rainwater enter the stormdrain system has been the installation of filters at the stormdrain inlet. Currently, the City has 38 filters installed throughout the City. The filters play an instrumental role in helping the City prevent trash, hydrocarbons and other litter from entering the waterways and ultimately the San Francisco Bay. In fact, the City has become a leader on this front within the Bay Area and is often cited as a model of
how to successfully implement effective stormwater management features.
City of Dublin staff has always tried to maintain a “practice what you preach” philosophy and has been placing emphasis on City facilities to ensure that effective stormwater control measures are in place where needed. With this in mind, Staff has been visiting some of the City’s older facilities to see if filters can be of use at any of these locations. On a recent inspection at Fire Station 16, Staff discovered that our Fire colleagues are quite zealous at keeping their Fire Engines clean and that wash water can get into an adjacent stormdrain inlet without being treated (the new stations have had a filtering system installed as part of the construction
process). As a result, the City will be installing two new filters at Fire Station 16. They will capture soap from the wash water in addition to any suspended solids and hydrocarbons from the trucks. This is a relatively inexpensive solution, and it allows the City to maintain its integrity as it enforces the City’s stormwater management program.
As far as the filter installation program is concerned, the City contracts for the installation and maintenance of these filters with each filter being cleaned three times a year to remove any debris or contaminants. The filter installation and maintenance program is funded by the Oil Payment Program, a non-General Fund revenue source, which is a State grant that the City receives annually. The Oil Payment Program is noncompetitive and provides payments/funds to establish and maintain used oil and used oil filter collection/ recycling programs. Cities are allowed to use a percentage of these funds for stormwater prevention, since leaky cars can result in oil discharges onto city streets, which can enter the stormdrain system and ultimately the San Francisco Bay.
