Reducing Priority Pollutants

While there are many sources of erosion and sediment in the urban environment, listed below are main sources in Marin and ways to reduce and eliminate them.

• Construction and landscaping
• Increased development and impervious surfaces
• Vegetation removal
• Bank erosion and alterations
• Fire roads, trails and other private dirt roads
• Social trails

Construction and Landscaping

Grading, vegetation removal, stockpiles, trenching for utilities and irrigation systems, and vehicles and equipment tracking sediment out into the street are just some of the activities that these types of projects need to address. You can find preventative measures, referred to as Best Management Practices (BMPs), for these and many other construction and landscaping activities on our Resources for Projects During Construction page including helpful brochures such as Dirt Can Hurt, Keep it in Place!

Increased Development and Impervious Surfaces

As areas are developed the native soil and vegetation that used to infiltrate and take up most of the water during rain events is covered up by impervious surfaces such as roofs, driveways, sidewalks, and streets. Where natural ground cover may only have 10% runoff during the rainy season, areas with 10%-20% and 35%-50% impervious surface will have double and triple the amount of runoff respectively!

Increased runoff means increased peak flows in our creeks. This not only leads to more frequent and severe flooding events, but also causes excess scouring and downcutting of the creek bed and increased erosion and sloughing along the creek banks. Less water infiltrating down to the water table also causes decreased spring and summer flows in our creeks.

To mitigate these effects larger new and redevelopment projects are required to install permanent features such as bioswales, cisterns, bioretention facilities, and rain gardens that are designed to infiltrate and treat stormwater runoff after (post) construction and mimic preconstruction conditions. These practices are referred to as Low Impact Development (LID). To learn more about these requirements and how to implement Low Impact Development practices visit our Post Construction Requirements and Low Impact Development Resources page and check out helpful brochures such as Slow the Flow, Keep Rain Onsite! and Slow It. Spread It. Sink It.

Vegetation Removal

Vegetation plays many key roles in preventing rain and wind erosion.

• Trees, shrubs, and other plants provide a canopy that protects the soil from rain drops striking the soil directly and dislodging particles.
• Their root structure binds soils and holds them in place which is particularly important for stability on hillsides and along creek banks, and preventing dust from wind. Note – Native plants work the best because they have a much deeper root structure than most non-native plants, require less watering, and are self-sufficient after they become established (typically 2-3 years).
• They slow the flow of runoff allowing sediment particles to settle out, increasing infiltration, and reducing concentrated flows that cause rilling and gullying.
• They reduce the amount of runoff by uptaking water and releasing it through transpiration.

Bank Erosion and Alterations

A stable unaltered creek with native vegetation and a riparian corridor will often see minimal bank erosion in an average rain year. Bank erosion is often an indicator of upstream or downstream impacts and/or creekbank alterations. Factors can include:

• Higher peak flows caused by increased development and impervious surfaces
• Increased stream velocity caused by upstream armored banks, channelizing, and constrictions (walls, rip-rap, fill)
• Increased depth and eddying caused by a downstream restriction
• Removal of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation from the creekbank
• Failing walls and other armoring

If you are a creekside homeowner and you’re experiencing creekbank erosion, it’s important to identify why the bank is eroding before developing a solution. Remember that any work done in the creek or on its banks will need permits! There are resources to help you get started on our Everything Creeks! page including helpful brochures such as Repairing Creekbank Erosion or check out the flyer for the Marin Project Coordination meetings.

Fire Roads, Trails, and Dirt Roads

Without proper maintenance fire roads, public trails and other public or private dirt roads can erode or even washout sending large volumes of sediment into our creeks.

Social Trails

Social trails are created by pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles not staying on designated walkways, paths, trails, and roads. The continual wear on these cut-throughs tramples existing vegetation and compacts soils which greatly inhibits any new plant growth. These bare dirt trails also often go vertically up and down slope making them highly susceptible to erosion or are along roadways and streams so the sediment directly discharges to storm drains and creeks.

Resist the temptation and stay on designated walkways, paths, trails, and roads!

Lagunitas Creek Fine Sediment Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)

Lagunitas Creek, the largest watershed in Marin County, flows from its headwaters on Mount Tamalpais to its mouth in Tomales Bay. The watershed supports federally listed populations of coho salmon, steelhead, and California freshwater
shrimp. In 1990, based on evidence of widespread erosion and concern regarding adverse impacts to fish habitat, the State Water Board listed Lagunitas Creek as impaired by sedimentation under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act.

The SF Regional Water Quality Control Board then developed a Total Daily Maximum Load (TMDL) allocation for sediment within the Lagunitas watershed. The TMDL contains specific actions for attaining water quality objectives and supporting identified beneficial uses for that waterbody. In June 2014, the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted a Basin Plan Amendment which officially established a TMDL for fine sediment in the Lagunitas Creek watershed. The Basin Plan Amendment also included an implementation plan to achieve the TMDL and related habitat enhancement goals.

Paved Roads Assessment

As part of the implementation plan a Paved Roads Assessment was completed to identify potential sediment discharge issues along county maintained paved public roads. The report was completed in 2017 and the County is using it as road map to identify and implement projects to repair and replace roadways, roadside ditches, and culvert crossings.

Available Data Sources

The following documents, reports and studies provide further detail on the regulatory background, sediment assessment and road infrastructure in the TMDL project area.

Regulatory Background

• Lagunitas Creek Watershed Sediment TMDL
• Basin Plan Amendment – Final Order: R2-2014-0027
• San Francisco RWQCB Staff Report

Road Maintenance Guidelines

• FishNet 4C. 2004. County Road Maintenance Guidelines For Protecting Aquatic Habitat and Salmon Fisheries.

Be the Difference… Because Every Litter Bit Helps!

A Hub for the Clean Stewards of Marin

To reach our goal of keeping Marin litter free we are implementing a plan that brings everyone to the table so together we can break the life cycle of trash.

Clean Marin is a growing coalition of 20 agencies, volunteer groups, and non-profit organizations!

Clean Marin Action Teams

Clean Marin has developed four Action Teams to address the wide spectrum of activities that can be done by volunteers to affect change.

• Volunteer Programs – Developing tools and providing support to encourage Clean Groups and plan cleanups throughout Marin.
• Clean Highways – Working through volunteer and multi-agency partnerships to develop real solutions to reduce the trash load on our highways.
• Outreach, Education, and Marketing – Developing web based and social media content, outreach materials and campaigns, and school and business programs to engage the public, promote events, and expand anti-litter campaigns.
• Source Control – Assisting and expanding recycling and zero waste programs, developing model local ordinances and product bans, and improving consumer awareness.

Clean Marin Programs

Our goal is to collectively develop and improve tools and provide the necessary support so any group, business, or individual can participate in Clean Programs and make a difference in their community or neighborhood!

• Adopt-A-Spot Program – Adopt a Spot today and play an active role in maintaining the beauty and cleanliness of your neighborhoods, parks, schools, creeks, shorelines and downtowns!
• Clean Business Program – Take the Clean Business Pledge and take an active part in keeping your community clean!

Visit Clean Marin to learn more!

While the final new permit language is not expected to be out until late 2019 or early 2020, the preliminary requirements are as follows:

• Capture all trash 5 millimeters (cigarette butt) and greater that enter enters a municipal storm drain system from all Priority Land Use Areas.
• Priority Land Use Areas shall include commercial, industrial, high density residential and mixed use, and all transit stops.
• To achieve this each permittee will need to install, operate, and maintain any combination of full trash capture systems, multi-benefit projects, other treatment controls, and/or institutional controls.
• Each permittee will have 10 years to reach full compliance, with milestones such as demonstrating an average reduction of 10% per year.

MCSTOPPP will continue working with all of Marin’s permittees to update and prioritize measures in their Trash Reduction Implementation Plans based on the final permit language. To meet these requirements many types of treatment and institutional controls will be considered and evaluated to determine their effectiveness such as:

• Enhanced street sweeping
• Designated street sweeping days and times
• Trash cleanups
• Individual catch basin trash capture devices
• Large area underground treatment devices
• Volunteer cleanup events
• Clean business programs
• Anti-trash ad campaigns
• Stormwater bioretention facilities
• Green streets projects

To evaluate the amount of trash that is accumulating on our streets and sidewalks, an On-land Visual Trash Assessment is conducted for each street segment in Priority Land Use areas.

MCSTOPPP conducted thousands of dry and wet weather assessments in 2017-2018 on behalf of all 11 municipalities and the unincorporated county to develop baseline trash generates in all of their Priority Land Use Areas.

Each municipality will need to submit a final Trash Reduction Implementation Plan outlining how they will meet the requirements over the 10 year period ending December 31, 2030.

So what are pathogens? Simply put, they are parasitic organisms capable of causing disease in their hosts.

The waterborne pathogens that are causing the impairments in our bays are of fecal origin and made up of 3 groups of microorganisms:

• Viruses – (Poliovirus, Hepatitis A)
• Bacteria – (E.coli, Salmonella, Brucella)
• Protozoa – (Cryptosporidium, Giardia)

There are many potential sources of waterborne pathogens, but here in Marin they can generally be broken down into two categories.

Human Sources

• Failing septic systems
• Faulty or clogged sewer laterals
• Boat discharges
• Sewage treatment facility overflows

Animal Sources

• Animal agriculture – dairies, grazing lands, horse facilities
• Municipal runoff – pet waste
• Wildlife

Whether you gaze at Richardson Bay, play in the surf at Stinson Beach, hike to the heights of Mt. Tam, or stroll along Corte Madera Creek, the beauty of Marin will captivate you and keep you coming back for more. But when pet waste is improperly disposed, it can be picked up by water and washed into storm drains or directly into local creeks, bays or the ocean. Once in the water, pet waste contributes pathogens and nutrients that can negatively impact water quality. One of the ways that state and local agencies are working together to reduce the amount of pathogens found in our waterways is by eliminating the urban sources from the surrounding land.

Dog Waste

Did you know there are more than nineteen thousand licensed dogs with the Marin Humane Society? That’s more than fourteen thousand pounds of dog poop a day! To protect the water quality in our creeks, bays and ocean, and the health of our families it is important for all dog owners to pick up after their pets!

• Always bag your dog’s waste and throw it away in the trash (NOT the green bin)
• Pick it up and pack it out when enjoying one of Marin’s dog-friendly hikes or walks around your neighborhood
• Pick up pet waste in your yard – pathogens will stay for months to years and put you, your family, and the environment at risk
• Don’t use pet waste for fertilizer or bury it where food will be grown

Cat Litter

Dispose of kitty litter and cat waste properly by bagging the used litter and place it in the trash. Sanitary Districts do not allow flushing cat litter down the toilet. Even kitty litter made from pine or other natural materials cannot be placed in vegetable gardens or compost piles. If the cat waste carries pathogens, the temperatures in sewage treatment plants, composters, and digesters may not reach the high temperatures needed to kill the pathogens.

Rabbit, Tortoise and Small Animal Litter

Like kitty litter, soiled small animal litter and bedding material should be put in the garbage. The waste can also carry pathogens.

Stewardship on horse property is a major opportunity and responsibility. Topics on caring for the land, managing manure, and giving practical solutions to horse owners on what can be done to help protect the environment can be found on our main Horse Owners page. Whether an owner has one horse or operates a boarding facility, all equestrians play an important role in assuring that our watersheds are healthy and our creeks clean.

Be a part of the Solution! Choose effective, less-toxic or non-toxic alternatives!

The Marin stores listed below partner with MCSTOPPP in a program called Our Water Our World. This program makes it easier for store customers to make more informed decisions when selecting products to manage pests. Partners include:

• Ace Building Supply Center – Pt. Reyes Station
• Bayside Garden Center – Belvedere/Tiburon
• Fairfax Ace Lumber and Hardware – Fairfax
• Goodman Building Supply – Mill Valley
• Chase Ace Hardware – San Rafael
• Jackson’s Hardware – San Rafael
• Marin Ace Hardware – San Rafael
• Pini Ace Hardware – Novato
• All five Sloat Garden Centers (Kentfield, Mill Valley, Novato, San Rafael)
• The Home Depot – San Rafael
• Toby’s Feed Barn – Pt. Reyes Station
• United Market and Garden Center – San Rafael

Participating stores also make available an assortment of fact sheets, provided by MCSTOPPP, to assist customers in managing various pests in the least toxic way possible.

We do have a list of less-toxic products according to targeted pest available but please note that not all products listed are available in all stores.

Next time you shop for a pesticide product in one of the stores mentioned above, look for one of the following tags placed beneath less toxic products found on store shelves – or ask store staff to assist you in making choices that are better for you, your families, pets, and the environment.

Learn more at the Our Water Our World website.

To address pesticide-related toxicity in urban water bodies, MCSTOPPP partners with regional education and outreach programs in efforts to decrease demand for pesticides that threaten water quality, while increasing awareness of effective, less toxic alternatives.

Research done during development of the TMDL found that pesticides applied around homes according to label instructions can and do lead to toxicity in local water bodies. Education and outreach initiatives funded by State grants, wastewater and stormwater dischargers, and others like MCSTOPPP promote the behavior change necessary to reduce this threat of pesticide-related toxicity in our creeks. These initiatives include:

• Our Water Our World provides materials, including fact sheets displayed at Bay Area hardware stores and a helpful free app, developed to assist consumers in managing home and garden pests in a way that helps protect water quality.
• Department of Pesticide Regulation combines regulatory action and voluntary adoption of improved pest management methods. Their Pest Management Program encourages the use of environmentally sound pest management, including integrated pest management (IPM).
• EcoWise Certified is an independent, third-party certification program that distinguishes knowledgeable, leading-edge licensed pest management professionals who practice prevention-based pest control.
• BayWise.org, hosted by Wastewater and Stormwater Dischargers, provides useful information on preventing all types of pollution where we live, work, and play, including how to find a certified pest control professional near you.
• IPM seminars are offered in the Bay Area by the Pesticide Applicators Professional Association (PAPA), a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing Continuing Education and to the implementation of safe and effective pest control techniques. Look for “IPM” next to the seminar date.
• Bay-Friendly Landscaping and Gardening is an approach to gardening and landscaping that works to maintain the natural conditions of the San Francisco Bay Watershed by fostering soil health, water conservation, waste reduction, and pollution prevention.

Rainfall and over- irrigation create runoff that can wash pesticides from landscaped areas and areas around buildings into storm drains and eventually into creeks, bays, and the ocean. In the 1990s, water from San Francisco Bay Area urban creeks proved toxic to aquatic organisms at the base of the food web, primarily due to runoff of the common insecticide diazinon. Diazinon was used throughout the Bay Area to manage many pests, including ants and grubs. The Diazinon and Pesticide-Related Toxicity in Urban Creeks TMDL plan (2007) sets forth actions designed to restore water quality.

By 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency required most products containing diazinon to be removed from retail store shelves. However, other pesticides with equal or greater aquatic toxicity have replaced diazinon and other banned chemicals in the marketplace. Therefore, the TMDL plan addresses pesticide-related aquatic toxicity in general, regardless of which pesticide causes the toxicity.

To comply with required TMDL actions, Marin’s cities, towns, and the County of Marin implement pesticide-related toxicity control programs. Each municipality adopted an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy or ordinance. IPM policies and ordinances require staff training and protocols and practices that result in less toxic pest management at municipally-owned and operated facilities.

As part of the education and outreach requirements, MCSTOPPP partners with other state and regional programs to promote pesticide reduction and the use less toxic alternatives.

The County of Marin and each of it’s municipalities implement an Integrated Pest Management Policy or Ordinance that applies to public property or buildings in their jurisdiction.

• Belvedere IPM Policy
• Corte Madera IPM Policy
• County of Marin IPM Policy (for unincorporated Marin)
• Fairfax Ordinance – Title 8: Health Safety Code, Chapter 8.52
• Larkspur IPM Policy
• Mill Valley IPM Policy
• Novato IPM Policy
• Ross IPM Policy
• San Anselmo IPM Policy
• San Rafael IPM Policy
• Sausalito Ordinance – Title 11, Chapter 11.6
• Tiburon IPM Policy

For more information on IPM visit the UC Statewide IPM Program and Our Water Our World

The sources for mercury include… below are main sources in Marin and ways to reduce and eliminate them.

• source 1
• source 2
• source 3
• source 4
• source 5

Source 1

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Source 2

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Source 3

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Source 4

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Source 5

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Walker Creek Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)

On September 29, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the Basin Plan amendment incorporating a TMDL for mercury in the Walker Creek and Soulajule Reservoir watersheds.

Current Actions…

About this…

Available Data Sources

The following documents, reports and studies provide further detail on the regulatory background, and mercury assessment in the TMDL project area.

Regulatory Background

• Lagunitas Creek Watershed Sediment TMDL
• Basin Plan Amendment – Final Order: R2-2014-0027
• San Francisco RWQCB Staff Report

Thermometer Take Back Program

Info here…

More info here…

PCB’s reduction programs…