Polluted rain runoff from big box parking lots could see a crackdown

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When rain falls on California shopping centers and warehouses, the water runs off parking lots carrying metal dust and chemicals from vehicle tires and brake pads, oil and grease from engines, and bacteria from trash.The gunk washes into storm drains and pollutes creeks, rivers and beaches.Now environmental advocates are pushing state regulators to crack down by requiring stormwater permits — essentially best practices — for businesses that haven’t been held accountable for their polluted runoff.“Commercial properties right now are not regulated under any stormwater permit,” said Sean Bothwell, executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance.

“Think Costco, think Amazon warehouses.Large places with large parking lots are really what we’re going after.”Groups that represent the businesses say they are already paying property taxes that in L.A.

County include a special tax for cleaning up stormwater, and that imposing new regulations in this way doesn’t make sense.But California Coastkeeper Alliance and other nonprofit groups submitted petitions to regional water officials across the state this week demanding they begin regulating commercial properties such as big-box stores, auto dealers and industrial parks.

The groups want the State Water Resources Control Board to establish a statewide rule, or permit, for “commercial, industrial and institutional” properties, which also include stadiums, malls and private hospitals.If the state doesn’t act, Bothwell said, “our waterways will never be safe to fish or swim in, particularly Southern California beaches.”That’s because a large portion of the pollution fouling waterways comes from these businesses.

Bothwell said his group estimates, using methods developed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, that unregulated businesses are responsible for 30% to 60% of metals like copper and zinc fou...