Cities sunk by unnecessary stormwater cleanup costs

Local governments in California risk being sunk by the cost of projects to clean up stormwater runoff, but a new report by the state auditor says those costs are not always “necessary and appropriate.”
The report recommends that the Legislature amend state law to direct the State Water Board to assess whether a study is justified to evaluate the safe level of a pollutant in a specific body of water. As an example, it cited a study of the Los Angeles River that found that a higher lim