Watershed Protection

It Isn't Just Big Industry

Often, when our ultimate customers, residents, think of water pollution they think of ooze coming from some factory. But, did you know that larger South Bay industrial facilities have made significant strides in reducing pollutants? No doubt there is still room for improvement, but with the reduction of much of the industrial pollution, it's clear that smaller commercial facilities combined with residential activities are a significant source of water pollution.

Outdoor Water Pollution

My business doesn't have any pollutants, does it?
Dirt and soapy water sound harmless but they can hurt our creek and the Bay. Dirt from construction or landscape activities can smother creek and river fish feeding and breeding grounds. Soap (even biodegradable soap) is highly toxic to creek life until it breaks down. Pollutants may even be invisible after they dry, like soap or pesticides, but are just waiting for rain or excess sprinkler water to wash them into a storm drain. Are there any outdoor activities your business does that leaves residue on your parking lot, driveway, or work-site?

But my facility is located blocks from a creek and miles from the Bay?
Nearly all parking lots and virtually all streets drain to a storm drain. When rain or other water washes pollutants off of parking lots, driveways, or landscaping the pollutants flow to a parking lot storm drain or a storm drain in the street. Water that flows to storm drains flow to creeks and NEVER GO TO A TREATMENT PLANT! And the local creek flows directly to the Bay. Your consumers, the public, care about the health of our creeks and Bay.

Where Water Goes Inside Your Business

A second way that water and pollutants get into the Bay is from the indoor drains and toilets in our businesses. Water from indoor drains flows into the sanitary sewer. In the Santa Clara Valley, sanitary sewers carry the wastewater from over 16,000 businesses to the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant.

This sewage treatment plant and two others in the Valley prevent the virtual destruction of the South Bay that would be caused by the wastewater flowing from businesses and the Valley's many residents. For most pollutants, the sewage treatment plants clean our wastewater so that the water leaving the plant surpasses drinking water standards for those pollutants. But, portions of some pollutants (like toxic [heavy] metals) do pass into the Bay. Discharge limits by the State are extremely low to protect species that are more sensitive to pollution than humans.

A second issue for the plant is that it discharges over 100 million gallons of treated wastewater into the South San Francisco Bay everyday. This volume of water, which is not salty, dilutes the saltiness of the Bay water. This lessening of the saltiness of the water affects the type of plants growing in the salt marshes. One kind of plant, pickleweed, is needed for two endangered species to survive in our South Bay. These are the salt marsh harvest mouse and the California clapper rail. Again because of the environmental impact the volume of this discharge is also regulated by the State.Visit www. SlowtheFlow.com

See the ordinance for the local limits for pollutants from commercial facilities: PDF file.

Updated 5/9/07

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