Palomar Airport Project

Flood Control Grant Project - McClellan-Palomar Airport Water Quality Basin: Project Overview
 
In January 2005, the County of San Diego received grant approval from the State of California Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to construct an underground water quality basin at McClellan-Palomar Airport (Palomar Airport). Funding for the project was provided in the form of a Proposition 13 Grant. Proposition 13 was approved by California voters in 2000 authorizing the State of California to sell bonds to support water resource project funding.
Coordination on the project was led by the County of San Diego Department of Public Works – Watershed Protection Program. The County contracted Rick Engineering Company to prepare the design of the facility, including construction documents. Additional consulting services that were coordinated through Rick Engineering Company included Weston Solutions, Inc. who led the ongoing monitoring and sampling component of the project, as well as others.  

Key components of the project included:

• Design
• Monitoring (Water Quality and Bioassessment)
• Outreach

The intent of the project is to treat all storm water runoff within the existing airport storm drain system that eventually discharges into Agua Hedionda Lagoon. This runoff, which passes below an existing business park located immediately north of the airport property, will be monitored on-site and in downstream habitat in order to observe and quantify the results.

Agua Hedionda Lagoon will benefit from the Underground Water Quality Detention Basin at Palomar Airport	Planes on the ground at Palomar Airport (south side of the runway)

Also of interest, the project design and construction was performed concurrently with a federally approved Federal Aviation Association (FAA) grant project. The FAA project involved construction of the north-side taxiway and parking area for small aircraft. Through close coordination, the projects were constructed together and resulted in an underground water quality facility sized to treat all existing, proposed, and future development within the overall airport watershed that contributes flows in the direction of Agua Hedionda Lagoon, per the Standard Urban Storm Water Mitigation Plan (SUSMP) numeric sizing criteria.

Contact Sara Agahi at 858.694.2665 for questions or more information on this grant project.

[ Project Overview ] [ Project Design Elements ] [ Effectiveness Assessment ] [ Outreach ]