May 23, 2005 - Riverside County Flood Control

City of Murrieta SWMP
4.0 E LIMINATION OF I LLICIT C ONNECTIONS
AND I LLEGAL D ISCHARGES
The Riverside County DAMP describes the discharge limitations and prohibitions applicable to the City
of Murrieta’s MS4 (Section 4.1), procedures to be implemented when persistent exceedances of water
quality standards are identified (Section 4.2), responding to and reporting illegal discharges (Section 4.4),
enforcement measures for illegal discharges and illicit connections (Section 4.5), measures to control
litter (Section 4.6), measures to manage sanitary wastes (Section 4.7), and programs to promote collection
and proper disposal of hazardous waste (Section 4.8).
Illicit discharges and illegal connections (IC/ID) to the City’s MS4 are detected and investigated through
a combination of programs and approaches targeted at a variety of the potential pollutant sources.
Potential IC/IDs involving the MS4 and the facilities and sources tributary to them are identified and
investigated through four types of activities and are investigated as part of existing construction, industrial
and commercial programs. The four activities currently used for detection of IC/ID are dry weather
inspections, complaint call-ins, business inspections (through the CAP and Department of Health
inspections) and through efforts by Public Works to do municipal facility inspections. The Public Works
Department, through the annual drainage structure inspection program, looks for illicit discharges when
inspecting the catch basin or MS4. This is the most direct method and enables the worker to look for any
discharge that appears unusual or may produce a foul odor or coloring. The Public Works Maintenance
Manager is familiar with the existing MS4 and the drainage patterns within the region and can take steps
to identify the source of what appears to be an illicit connection or illegal discharge. Complaint calls are
a direct source of IC/ID information in the area. Residents are directed to call the Murrieta Police
Department/Code Enforcement at 951-461-6330 to report any spill or illegal discharges. Murrieta also
participates in the regional storm water hotline number currently operational within Riverside County at
800-506-2555, which deals with the reporting of any illegal discharge and related items.
Additionally, the City of Murrieta implements an Illicit Discharge Monitoring Program as described in
Section 11 of this SWMP.
An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination component of the
SWMP will be included in the Annual Report. The measurable goals addressed in this evaluation will
include:
♦ Number of illicit discharges, connections and spills reported and/or identified during the reporting
period.
♦ Number of illicit discharges or connections investigated during the reporting period and the
outcome of the investigations.
♦ Number and type of enforcement actions taken for illicit discharges or connections during the
reporting period.
♦ Number of times the City’s hotline was called during the reporting period, as compared to
previous reporting period.
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