Watershed Overview

Watershed Overview

A watershed is the geographic area that drains to a common body of water. The San Diego Bay Watershed encompasses a 415 square mile area that extends more than 50 miles to the east - all the way to the Laguna Mountains. A large portion of the watershed land area lies north of the border with Mexico and south of Interstate 8. The major water courses feeding San Diego Bay include the Sweetwater River, the Otay River, Chollas Creek, Paleta Creek, Paradise Creek, and Switzer Creek.

The headwaters of the watershed begin in the unincorporated area of the County and then transect all or portions of 7 cities: San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, Coronado, Lemon Grove, and La Mesa. Nearly half of the population of San Diego County lives and works in the San Diego Bay Watershed. And most of these people live and work in close proximity to San Diego Bay itself - certainly one of the finest natural resources in the region, the State, and the nation.

Watershed management planning is a concept gaining hold throughout the San Diego region. It involves the identification of issues and concerns that are related more to the watershed in which they occur, rather than the jurisdiction in which they are found. Watershed management planning is based on the recognition that problems that originate upstream are generally carried down-stream by the flow of water.

The Port of San Diego is the lead agency on the San Diego Bay Watershed workgroup. This workgroup is comprised of representatives from the 7 cities that transect the watershed, as well as staff from the County of San Diego and the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. The workgroup collaborated to produce the Watershed Urban Runoff Management Program (WURMP), a comprehensive document describing all of the joint activities this workgroup will conduct from 2008 to 2012 to improve water quality throughout the watershed. The WURMP Document is available by clicking here. Additionally, the workgroup prepares a WURMP Annual Report every year to provide information on all of the activities that have taken place throughout the previous reporting period. The most recent version of the WURMP Annual Report is available by clicking here.

For more information on local watershed planning efforts, please visit the County of San Diego's Project Clean Water.