San Diego Coastkeeper filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the City of Encinitas in October 1998. Coastkeeper brought this case for two reasons: first, the very sensitive resources that surround the City; and second, the glaring violations.
Encinitas is a coastal city that is bordered by Batiquitos Lagoon on the north, San Elijo Lagoon on the south, Cottonwood Creek, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Second, in Coastkeeper's opinion the violations were glaring and substantial. Despite being a co-permittee of the State's General Municipal Stormwater Permit, the City had not developed nor implemented an adequate Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program or Monitoring Program. Best management practices (BMPs) were not implemented to reduce or treat stormwater run-off. The City failed to conduct regular inspections of stormwater conveyances, monitor stormwater discharges, failed to conduct fiscal analysis to demonstrate ability to comply with the general permit, and failed to adequately monitor entities discharging into their system and pursue enforcement for illegal discharges when necessary. These failures resulted in flooding of homes and businesses, pooling of water that threatened public health and the environment, and discharges of pollutants into receiving waters. Finally, during storm events, the City used a portable pump-to-pump polluted stormwater onto Beacon's Beach without a NPDES permit.
After lengthy discussions over nine months between the City and Coastkeeper, the two parties filed a consent decree with the U.S. District Court in July 1999. In the end, Coastkeeper believes that the resolution of this case has been a tremendous success story. As a result of the Consent Decree, which was initially to be in effect through July 2002 (but was subsequently extended a year), the City of Encinitas agreed to:
As a result of bringing this action and ultimate consent decree, we believe the City of Encinitas has established a stormwater pollution prevention program that is a model for the region. By resolving this issue with Coastkeeper, Encinitas was able to avoid the potentially devastating penalties that could have been levied as a result of their violations. Plus, the City has made a concerted effort to highlight their commitment to clean water in the community, and we applaud this effort. This serves to not only move forward with the education component of the consent decree, but also provides valuable positive public relations for the City.
Coastkeeper recently sent notice to the City of Encinitas that it had fully performed all of its obligations under the consent decree. Baykeeper looks forward to future collaborative efforts to continue and enhance protection of Cottonwood Creek and the San Elijo Lagoon.