Completed Projects/Issues - Roads & Infrastructure

Councilman Peters inspects a low flow diversion system at Windansea Beach with project engineers Jamal Batta and Mark Nassar.

Councilman Peters inspects a low flow diversion system at Windansea Beach with project engineers Jamal Batta and Mark Nassar.

Low Flow Diversion Project

Keeping San Diego’s beaches and bays safe for swimming, surfing and fishing is one of Councilman Scott Peters top priorities. The Councilman joined Mayor Murphy to form the Clean Water Task Force, which set a goal of reducing beach and bay closures by 50% by 2004. Councilman Peters is pleased to report that the City has exceeded that goal in only 3 years!

Sewer spills and beach closures are down 60% and the City is has accelerated cleaning and replacement of sewer pipes to continue to reduce spills. The cause for most beach closures is polluted urban run off from irrigation and other sources that takes trash, fertilizer, chemicals and other waste untreated to the ocean. Councilman Peters has pushed forward the low flow storm drain diversion program to stop this polluted run-off from reaching the beach. Low flow diverters take dry weather storm water flows and diverts them away from the beach and into the sewer system for treatment. Councilman Peters and Mayor Murphy announced the start of Phase II of the program in December and it was completed in September of 2004. Phase II places 18 new diverters along the coast, 14 in La Jolla. The 7 systems in Phase I, have caught 80% of the sewer spills in La Jolla and diverted them back to the sewer system before they hit the beach. This is part of the larger strategy for cleaning up our beaches and bays.

More information about the program. (PDF: 411K)

Learn more about our Clean Water efforts.