New Water Rules Proposed

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 5, 2007 at 12:02 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego County water officials are proposing stricter regulations on local governments and developers to reduce water pollution. The building industry contends the new rules will cost consumers. KPB

San Diego County water officials are proposing stricter regulations on local governments and developers to reduce water pollution. The building industry contends the new rules will cost consumers. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

County water officials say the development boom in San Diego has increased the flow of polluted storm-water runoff to waterways and beaches. Phil Hammer is an environmental scientist with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. He says most developments pave over dirt with concrete which allows more dirty water to flow into storm drains. Hammer says water officials want future developments to use methods to trap and filter that runoff.

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Hammer: To prevent those water quality problems from worsening, we’re looking for changes in the way development occurs so that the runoff leaving these developments is treated and does not contain a high level of pollutants.

Hammer says the regional water board is expected to adopt the new standards at its meeting later this month. Some building industry officials say any increased development costs will be passed on to home buyers and other property users. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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