Alameda, CA Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Chapter XVIII, Article III of the Alameda Municipal Code, the Storm Water Management and Discharge Control Ordinance, prohibits discharging anything other than storm water into the city's separate storm sewer system (Sec. 1). Exempted flows include water line flushing, landscape irrigation, individual residential car washing, dechlorinated swimming pool discharges, and firefighting runoff (Sec. 2). Illicit drainage connections to the storm sewer are banned outright, and the ban reaches connections made in the past regardless of whether they were once permitted (Sec. 4). Anyone owning property along a watercourse must keep it free of trash and excess vegetation and cannot discharge into it, alter its flow, deposit or remove material from it, or build within thirty feet of a creek centerline or twenty feet of the top of a bank without a written permit from the Public Works Director (Sec.

11). Littering into a storm drain, catch basin, gutter, or any city street is also prohibited, and property owners fronting a paved sidewalk must keep it free of dirt and litter (Sec. 6). The Director of Public Works, as the authorized enforcement official, can enter property to inspect for violations, install sampling devices, and demand monitoring reports from dischargers (Secs. 4). Construction contractors and parking lot operators must install filter materials at catch basins to keep debris out of the system (Sec. 8). Where the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District has accepted maintenance of a watercourse, the City can assign enforcement to that agency by contract (Sec. 4).