Protecting Oceans from Urban Storm Water Runoff

Abstract

Urban storm water runoff - storm water flowing through cities to receiving waters - is a major contributor to coastal water quality problems. This short article, which appeared as part of a journal issue on the problem of storm water, describes the problems that storm water causes for ocean water quality and function; provides a brief overview of the regulatory mechanisms that can help to address ocean storm water contamination, especially the Clean Water Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act; and describes as a case study the Santa Monica Bay estuary in southern California.

Keywords: storm water, stormwater, ocean, coastal, Clean Water Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, CZMA, pathogens, bacteria, Santa Monica Bay, estuary