Santee, California

with vegetation to collect runoff) and vegetated creek beds to capture runoff, reduce flooding, and improve drainage. The city plans to capture and treat stormwater runoff that enters the park from nearby residential uses before it enters the San Diego River. The new stormwater retention basins and channels will require the installation of 12 bridges to connect pedestrian paths throughout the park. Regarding stormwater runoff in the rest of the city, Maertz reports that since California law requires that all trash from city streets needs to be captured before it goes into a waterway, Santee is adding what is known as a stormwater treatment chamber, or baffle box, to catch trash. “Rather than putting out 600 trash collectors throughout neighborhoods in every little storm drain, we’re capturing it all in one place, and we got a $1.2 million grant to do that,” he states. Quality-of-life issues are important to local residents who value the abundance of open space pictured Director of Community Services, Bill Maertz