News
City seeks to create "healthy watershed"
October 05, 2007
By Gideon Marcus
Reporter
VISTA - When it rains, it pours - straight into the Agua Hedionda and Buena Vista Creek watersheds and out into the Pacific Ocean.
A recent study shows that a staggering 32 percent of Vista's rainfall never soaks into the soil. Instead, this torrent washes through the city's concrete culverts and rock lawns, dumping contaminants into local streams and lagoons.
Vista didn't have much natural land to begin with.
"A lot of the city was built and developed for agricultural purposes so there's not that much open space left compared to Carlsbad and San Marcos, which grew later," said John Conley, a Vista City planner. "We're attempting to conserve what open space areas we have in our city - primarily flows which drain [out of the city]."
Last year, a coalition of concerned parties, including several North County cities, the UCSD Natural Reserve System, the Carlsbad Watershed network, and Preserve Calavera, petitioned the state for a grant to develop a watershed management plan for Agua Hedionda.
In January, the state water resources board approved a $500,000 grant to Vista, the lead agency in the partnership.
The grant was welcome news for Diane Nygaard, president of Preserve Calavera.
"The exciting thing about doing a comprehensive watershed management plan is that we will really be able to look at the entire system of creeks that feed into Agua Hedionda lagoon; no more piecemeal planning that fixes a problem one place but causes another one downstream," she said.
Tetratech, the consulting firm that conducted the rainfall study is drafting the watershed management plan. An effective plan requires that a number of questions about the watershed be answered: What does the stream bed look like? How much of the stream's course is natural or concrete? Are there invasive life forms?
Sept. 29 and Sept. 30 marked a major milestone for the plan. Water specialists conducted a series of stream characterization tests to answer these questions and more. Armed with this information, the partnership can move on to the next step: finalizing goals and identifying solutions.
"This really is the direction we need to be going," said Jayne Strommer, Stormwater Program Manager for Vista. "Many plans have stopped short of determining constructive solutions and cost estimates. I'm hoping that this will serve as a good model for future watershed management plans, not just for Vista but for all of the jurisdictions within those watersheds, and the stakeholders involved."
The state grant only covers the drafting of the plan, due to be complete in October of 2008. More funds will need to be forthcoming to actually effect any of the plan's recommendations, from measures as prosaic as advocating softer lawn cover to drastic modifications like re-channeling the Agua Hedionda creek.
But city officials and private organization leaders are optimistic that they can secure the funds and preserve Vista's wild lands.
"Our dream would be a healthy watershed where natural creeks flow to the coast with water clean enough to swim in - even after a rainfall," Nygaard said.
A recent study shows that a staggering 32 percent of Vista's rainfall never soaks into the soil. Instead, this torrent washes through the city's concrete culverts and rock lawns, dumping contaminants into local streams and lagoons.
Vista didn't have much natural land to begin with.
"A lot of the city was built and developed for agricultural purposes so there's not that much open space left compared to Carlsbad and San Marcos, which grew later," said John Conley, a Vista City planner. "We're attempting to conserve what open space areas we have in our city - primarily flows which drain [out of the city]."
Last year, a coalition of concerned parties, including several North County cities, the UCSD Natural Reserve System, the Carlsbad Watershed network, and Preserve Calavera, petitioned the state for a grant to develop a watershed management plan for Agua Hedionda.
In January, the state water resources board approved a $500,000 grant to Vista, the lead agency in the partnership.
The grant was welcome news for Diane Nygaard, president of Preserve Calavera.
"The exciting thing about doing a comprehensive watershed management plan is that we will really be able to look at the entire system of creeks that feed into Agua Hedionda lagoon; no more piecemeal planning that fixes a problem one place but causes another one downstream," she said.
Tetratech, the consulting firm that conducted the rainfall study is drafting the watershed management plan. An effective plan requires that a number of questions about the watershed be answered: What does the stream bed look like? How much of the stream's course is natural or concrete? Are there invasive life forms?
Sept. 29 and Sept. 30 marked a major milestone for the plan. Water specialists conducted a series of stream characterization tests to answer these questions and more. Armed with this information, the partnership can move on to the next step: finalizing goals and identifying solutions.
"This really is the direction we need to be going," said Jayne Strommer, Stormwater Program Manager for Vista. "Many plans have stopped short of determining constructive solutions and cost estimates. I'm hoping that this will serve as a good model for future watershed management plans, not just for Vista but for all of the jurisdictions within those watersheds, and the stakeholders involved."
The state grant only covers the drafting of the plan, due to be complete in October of 2008. More funds will need to be forthcoming to actually effect any of the plan's recommendations, from measures as prosaic as advocating softer lawn cover to drastic modifications like re-channeling the Agua Hedionda creek.
But city officials and private organization leaders are optimistic that they can secure the funds and preserve Vista's wild lands.
"Our dream would be a healthy watershed where natural creeks flow to the coast with water clean enough to swim in - even after a rainfall," Nygaard said.
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