The city of San Diego spent $52 million last year on emergency repairs for infrastructure projects such as replacing collapsed storm drains, clearing water channels and repairing sinkholes which arose due to heavy rain.
Of the 29 emergency repairs performed across the city last year, 23 were related to stormwater infrastructure and totaled about $45 million, according to a city report.
Two years ago, city officials decided to set aside money from the capital improvements budget for an emergency line of funding for storm drains. As the city faces a shortfall of about $250 million in the budget that takes effect July 1, the emergency funds may become even more critical to addressing stormwater needs.
“None of us love emergency projects … but when things collapse, we have to fix them,” said Councilmember Marni von Wilpert during a council meeting earlier this year to approve the emergency repair costs.
Some of the 2024 projects were a direct result of the heavy rains and flooding which took place in several San Diego communities last January. The flooding affected hundreds of homes and cost millions of dollars of damage.
In the event of an emergency, the city is able to develop contracts with a list of pre-approved contractors in order to act swiftly. These agreements bypass the usual bidding process meant to help the city find a contractor at an affordable price.
Stormwater infrastructure has been a consistent reason for these contracts in San Diego over the years, according to Caryn McGriff, assistant director of engineering and capital projects.
“We have seen this repeated history of multiple-millions of dollars of emergencies in storm drains specifically,” McGriff said during the meeting.
The dedicated stormwater funding stream allows the city to move more quickly to address stormwater emergencies while reducing disruptions to other projects, said city spokesperson Tyler Becker.
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