Stormwater Awareness

Protect our rivers, lagoons, beaches

The North County Transit District’s stormwater quality program is working diligently to protect our waterways.

The polluted stormwater in our waterways affects water quality for recreational use, drinking water supplies, and wildlife in our ecosystem.

Below you will find information about stormwater, what NCTD is doing and other resources.

What is Stormwater?

Stormwater is water from rain or snowstorms that flows over streets, parking lots, roofs, and other impervious surfaces and into a water body or storm drain.

Why Should We Care?

The runoff water after or during a rain event (known as stormwater) that flows down the streets and into a gutter goes into a storm drain which flows untreated and unfiltered into a creek, lake, river, or ocean. This water picks up pollutants of concern along the way to the storm drain and gets transported to nearby water bodies.

Common pollutants can be litter, trash, cigarette butts, sediment, organic debris, leaked auto fluids, pet waste, cans, plastic bags and bottles, and much more. The polluted stormwater in our waterways affects water quality for recreational use, drinking water supplies, and wildlife in our ecosystem.

NCTD Stormwater Quality Program

NCTD storm water quality program is doing the following to protect our waterways:

Have programs in effect to reduce the pollution at source such as daily trash pickup at train stations and transit centers.
Perform street sweeping in the parking lots of transit stations and centers at least on a weekly basis.
Crews work hard to keep the platforms, storm drains, and ditches near the train stations and transit centers clean and tidy.
Equipped with water treatment setup in their bus maintenance yard that recycles the water used to wash buses.
Report or notify NCTD Operations Control Center (760) 996-6500 for any issues on NCTD property such as non-storm water discharges like sewer leaks, oil and fuel spills, soil discharges from construction sites, foul smelling liquid discharges from commercial/industrial properties, and illegal dumping of trash.
Implemented erosion control and Best Management Practices (BMPs) on their sites when conducting operations and maintenance activities to protect slope erosion and storm drains.

Make a Difference

Passengers and riders can help NCTD in protecting nearby water bodies in several ways:

Use trash cans and bins to discard all litter located throughout NCTD bus stops, parking lots, train stations and transit centers.
Recycle cans, paper, cardboard, and plastic bottles in the recycle bins or cans.
Do not discharge anything in the storm drains and ditches.

Avoid washing vehicles in areas that drains to the storm drain; instead, take your vehicle to a commercial car wash.
Regular maintenance of your car can prevent oil leaks.
Optimize sprinkler settings to prevent excessive watering and avoid runoff onto paved surfaces such as driveways and sidewalks. Also, consider implementing efficient irrigation systems.

Construction Practices for Stormwater and Landscaping

NCTD follows standard best management practices to implement Low Impact Development (LID).

Examples of LID include vegetated swales and vegetated buffer strips. These practices reduce potential pollutant discharges using natural methods to manage stormwater runoff.