San Diego Citizen Watershed Monitoring Consortium Saturday, 11th October 
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SDCWMC > Watersheds

Pueblo Watershed

Map of Pueblo watershed


The Pueblo San Diego watershed is the smallest hydrologic unit (HU) in San Diego County, encompassing approximately 60 square miles of predominantly urban landscape in the cities of San Diego, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, and National City. The watershed contains the smallest proportion of unincorporated area (0.3%) of the HUs within the county. The population of the Pueblo San Diego watershed is approximately 500,000 residents, making it the county's most densely populated watershed.

Approximately 75% of the watershed is developed. Residential, retail/ office, and industrial land uses account for 45%, 11%, and 10% of the total, respectively. In addition, there are relatively large percentages of land used for transportation corridors and highways. Due to the high level of existing urbanization in the watershed, only small amounts of additional land is projected for development over the next 15 years.

The watershed drainage consists of a group of relatively small local creeks and pipe conveyances, many of which are concrete-lined and drain directly into San Diego Bay. The creeks in the watershed are highly impacted by urban runoff, and Chollas Creek and the mouth of the creek in San Diego Bay are listed as 303(d)-impaired water bodies for various trace metals parameters and aquatic toxicity.
Hydrologic Areas: Point Loma, San Diego Mesa, National City
Major Water Bodies: Chollas Creek, Paleta Creek, and San Diego Bay

If you would like to select one of these major water bodies as your collection site, follow these instructions to get the information you will need for the registration form:

  • Copy the name of the water body (e.g., San Marcos Creek).
  • Go to www.topozone.com and paste the water body name in the place name field.
  • Select CA and click the Search button. The results will look similar to the screenshot below: www.topozone.com results for San Onofre Creek

    The information you will need to write down or copy from the results are:

    • Type: the water body type.
    • USGS Quad: the Nearest City field on the registration form.
    • Lat: the latitude.
    • Lon: the longitude.
  • Enter the information into the Collection Site Information section of the registration form.

If you need assistance in selecting a collection site, please contact us. We'll be happy to help you find a site that's as close to your group' or school's location as possible.