Storm Water Management

Storm Water Drainage System Description

Storm water generated within the City’s existing developed areas is collected and discharged by a combination of the following facilities:

1. Underground storm drains.
2. Detention and percolation basins.
3. Limited discharge into the City sanitary sewer system facilities.
4. Discharge into Merced Irrigation District (MID) canals and laterals, via pump stations.

Livingston is traversed or bordered by several canals and laterals owned and operated by the Merced Irrigation District (MID). These canals include the Arena Canal and Livingston Canal. Although the primary intended function of the canals and laterals has historically been to provide supply water for agriculture users, the Merced Irrigation District (MID) canals also offer a storm water drainage discharge terminal point for storm water drainage originating from portions of the City’s existing developed areas.

Many properties within the City are governed by Subdivision Drainage Agreements that have been executed with Merced Irrigation District (MID). These agreements authorize the discharge of runoff into specified Merced Irrigation District (MID) facilities as long as several special provisions are met. The agreements establish a “per lot” one time connection fee and an annual maintenance fee that is levied via the Merced County property tax bill.

Storm Water Management Program

The City of Livingston adopted a Storm Water Management Program during FY2006-2007 in compliance with the federal storm water quality regulations, 40 CFR, Part 122 et. seq. (Phase II), Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act Section 376, and with the State Water Resources Control Board General Permit for Small Municipal Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s), (Water Quality Order No. 2003-0005-DWQ). The Storm Water Management Program contains a Storm Water Pollution Plan that describes the control measures, work plan, budget and performance measures for the City of Livingston in the following areas:

1. Public Outreach and Education.
2. Public Participation and Involvement.
3. Illicit Discharge Elimination.
4. Construction Site Best Management Practices (BMPs) Over One Acre.
5. Post Construction Best Management Practices (BMPs).
6. Municipal Activities.

In addition to meeting state and federal laws and regulations, Livingston’s Storm Water Management Program objectives are to address storm water quality concerns specific to Livingston, provide a plan consistent with the community’s values and means, and involve the community in development and implementation of the plan in order to meet federal and state requirements in the most cost-effective manner.

Joint-Use Opportunities

The City will avoid the construction of new detention basins that serve no other function but to store and discharge storm runoff via pumping facilities or percolation. These single function facilities are eye sores and do not integrate well with existing development.

The consolidation of major storm water storage facilities into a limited number of large detention basins provides the City with favorable opportunities for creating innovative grading and designs to incorporate recreation elements into the detention facilities. By adding land allocated to storm water detention with land allocated to parks, the City may effectively increase its available park land by using functional joint-use design practices within consolidated facilities.

Storm Drainage Master Plan

The Livingston Storm Drainage Master Plan describes the current condition of the City’s storm drainage system, provides recommendations for mitigating nuisance flooding in several problem areas of the existing urbanized area and presents a plan for new facilities to serve new developments that are currently located within the City of Livingston or are likely to be incorporated into the sphere of influence (SOI) at some point in the foreseeable future. The Livingston Storm Drainage Master Plan addresses and provides information with respect to the following:

1. Watershed hydrology and peak runoff.
2. Infrastructure plan for new and retrofitted storm drainage facilities.
3. Joint-use opportunities and design guidelines for detention basins.
4. Funding alternatives.
5. Impact fees pertinent to new development areas.
6. Project Priority.

New development projects will be required to provide site-specific or project-specific storm drainage solutions that are consistent with the overall infrastructure plan presented in the Livingston Storm Drainage Master Plan. The City may allow for a reasonable degree of flexibility to be incorporated into specific design approaches as a means of achieving effective solutions.