Report 2017-118 Recommendation 16 Responses

Report 2017-118: State and Regional Water Boards: They Must Do More to Ensure That Local Jurisdictions' Costs to Reduce Storm Water Pollution Are Necessary and Appropriate (Release Date: March 2018)

Recommendation #16 To: Water Resources Control Board

To better provide comprehensive information on funding sources and storm water financial management for local jurisdictions, the State Water Board should create a committee by August 2018 to identify the informational needs of jurisdictions and create best practices for storm water financial management and financial approaches. This committee should include representatives from the State Water Board's Division of Financial Assistance, the regional boards, and various local jurisdictions.

60-Day Agency Response

The Stormwater Funding Sub-Committee was established in October 2016, and meets approximately 2-4 times year, as a part of the Strategy to Optimize Resource Management of Stormwater (STORMS) Core Implementation Committee of stakeholders. The committee includes representatives from the State Water Board Divisions of Financial Assistance and Division of Water Quality, the Regional Water Boards, EPA Region 9, California Coastkeeper Alliance (committee lead), California Coalition for Environmental and Economic Balance, Association of California Water Agencies, California Association of Sanitation Agencies, California Stormwater Quality Association, and various cities and counties. The committee was established to provide input and recommendations to Water Board staff implementing the STORMS project to Eliminate Barriers to Funding Stormwater Programs and Identify Funding for Stormwater Capture and Use Projects, but has also become a platform for discussion of additional stormwater funding related items. Items discussed by this committee include, but are not limited to, various stormwater funding sources, funding gaps, tools available and necessary for municipalities, and current legislative efforts.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

Although the State Water Board has a committee that it uses to identify best practices for storm water financial management, we encourage the committee to solicit and include information from the local jurisdictions that bear the cost of implementing storm water projects. As we note on pages 33 and 34 of our audit report, the local jurisdictions we reviewed identified other funding sources aside from the grants offered by the State Water Board that helped them address their storm water requirements.

All Recommendations in 2017-118

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.