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Dollars for Detention

Sacramento County is setting up seven new detention centers, but they're not for school bullies and truant teenagers, they're for stormwater pollutants. The bulldozers will complete the first of these large catchment basins for urban runoff this fall as part of a watershed-based county effort to minimize and manage anticipated stormwater pollution in the fast-developing South Sacramento area.

What's most interesting about the plans for the new basins is that their size, location and funding mechanisms are all designed to serve multiple new developments within a specific watershed - a much more efficient way to control stormwater pollution than putting in lots of little basins and runoff traps on a subdivision-by-subdivision basis, according to the county's Steve Pedretti. This way the basins serve 400-800 acres rather than 50 and are located at the best collection points based on the specific watershed's hydrological conditions.

The reason the county didn't do it this way in the past was financial. "It's one thing to ask a developer to channelize a creek, put in some stormwater pipes and wait five years for us to reimburse them for their efforts," says Pedretti. "It's quite another to ask them to purchase 4-5 acres of land for a large basin, then construct it. It's a bit too big of a financial burden, especially if it's only a 50-acre development. And it puts them at a competitive disadvantage with everyone else in the watershed who comes after them."

The bad news is that the county couldn't shoulder the burden either. It didn't have the big bucks necessary to purchase suitable land for watershed-based detention ponds in advance of the developments whose fees would pay for it. Nor could the county reserve the land without raising the ever unpopular "takings" issue, says Pedretti.

The good news is that the state just gave the county a $7.5 million, 20-year loan to solve this problem. The money will buy seven detention basins in three watersheds - Strawberry Creek, Jacinto Creek and Chicken Ranch Slough - although Pedretti says the specifics may change if other detention basins planned for other watersheds come on line sooner.

The plan for South Sacramento is just part of a countywide effort to develop master plans (four have been completed to date) for water quality and stormwater control for each of its 32 watersheds. The planning process also includes a design manual for control measures in other already built-up areas where land isn't available for big new catchment basins. The county's Doug Fraleigh says they will share the entire watershed planning model with surrounding cities and counties in the hopes of linking pollution prevention initiatives in a way that will benefit the Estuary as a whole.

Contact: Steve Pedretti (916)440-6851

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