State regulators crack down on polluted runoff from L.A. shopping centers, warehouses

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Set us as preferred In a requirement that is the first of its kind in the country, some 600 commercial and industrial properties in the Los Angeles area will have to clean up the water that runs off their parking lots or pay to have it cleaned up.The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted to require shopping centers, warehouses, private hospitals and office complexes whose properties drain into the Dominguez and Los Cerritos channels to get stormwater permits.The change is intended to hold commercial, industrial and institutional property owners accountable for the pollution their sites send flowing into drains, said David Nahai, chair of the L.A.

water board.It “addresses the effects of concrete, asphalt and other impervious surfaces that cover the urban landscape in these two watersheds, to protect water quality in the creeks, rivers and beaches downstream,” he said.Dominguez Channel begins in Hawthorne and drains Gardena, Torrance, Harbor Gateway, Carson and Wilmington.The Cerritos Channel watershed takes in a smaller area, including Lakewood, Bellflower, Signal Hill and east Long Beach.

Climate & Environment California cities are paying high costs to clean up water pollution running off parking lots.Environmental groups say the state needs to hold businesses accountable.Environmental advocates, who have pushed for the change for years, said the new requirements will make a major difference in addressing water pollution.“For too long, cities and taxpayers have shouldered the entire cost of cleaning up pollution that comes from these large commercial properties,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of the group Los Angeles Waterkeeper.But representatives of developers, property owners and business groups raised concerns about the costs and requirements that they said are sometimes unclear.

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