Recent rain patterns have made it clear that San Diego’s stormwater infrastructure is in desperate need of a makeover. 

More than 1,000 San Diegans were displaced and 595 buildings sustained major damage during our January and February winter storms, according to the Voz de San Diego. 

The recent San Diego Capital Infrastructure Planning Outlook relatedly stated that current infrastructure was “… past its useful life, resulting in system deterioration and failure. Age combined with deferred maintenance due to historic underfunding of the storm drain system has resulted in an increasing amount of damaged, unmaintained and failed stormwater infrastructure that can lead to flooding and catastrophic failure…”

It begs the question then, if the city’s infrastructure had been updated, would as many San Diego lives — as stated by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria in a January news conference — have been changed in a matter of minutes? 

A simple yes or no answer is perhaps a bit too simple for this umbrella question. 

However, as climate change continues to run rampant, it’s undoubtedly advantageous for both San Diego and its residents to have systems in place that require less post-storm catch up and devastation. 

In 2023, the City of San Diego’s Stormwater Department (SWD) told elected officials that more than 1,000 known pipe failures had yet to be addressed — posing health and safety threats. The SWD’s stormwater system, comprising more than 1,000 miles of storm drain pipes, additionally sustained $46 million in emergency repairs for the previous fiscal year, as reported by their November informe. 

However, San Diego Deputy Chief Operating Officer Kris McFadden stated in a news conference that even an updated storm drain system would have failed what has been coined as the city’s “thousand-year storm.”

Nonetheless, system updates are prudent. 

Furthermore, the San Diego Region Report from the California Emergency Commission stated that precipitation is among the many climate variables that will fluctuate in years to come. Specifically, rain patterns “will remain highly variable but will change in character, with wetter winters, drier springs and more frequent and severe droughts punctuated by more intense individual precipitation events.”   

The report continued to state that “Climate models indicate that precipitation volatility will intensify in the future […] as global climate continues to warm.” 

There’s no quick solution. 

Especially while Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center Senior Fellow Jeffery Mount estimated that the city is currently $2 billion short of funding needed to update flood management systems. 

It’s crucial to note that communities impacted by flooding were disproportionately Black, Latinx and underserved, as well. In a PPIC blog post, Mount shed light onto this issue. 

“The infrastructure protecting low-income parts of California isn’t holding up,” he said. “Often, it isn’t designed to deliver the same level of protection as in more affluent areas, and it isn’t properly maintained. Policymakers need to find ways to speed up infrastructure maintenance and construction. The permitting processes in play today make it really tough on public agencies. And these communities often struggle to find funding for flood planning and mitigation.”

It is likely that the city will have to rework plans, initiatives and funding to meet the needs of the SDW’s second function listed on their sitio web: protect communities from flooding. Especially for those recurrently underserved. 

Communicating known risks to all communities prior to the occurrence of natural disasters seems like a healthy place to start. 

Editor’s note: Jessica Mills is a freelance writer for San Diego Community Newspaper Group.

Crédito de la foto: Pixabay.com