Down in the Dumps

Pinole Creek a Victim of Illegal Dumping

By Alan Sechman

Photos courtesy of EBMUD Ranger Virginia Northrop

Pinole Creek has been trashed. If you looked over the tallies from Coastal Cleanup Day 2009, this poor little creek probably caught your eye. In just one morning, fifty-five volunteers hauled four and a half tons of trash from a short section of the creek, which flows through northwest Contra Costa County into the San Pablo Bay. Among the mass of debris were refrigerators, tires, rolls of barbed wire, an entire engine block, oil drums, and a mountain of scrap metal.

Creek dumping is illegal for a reason. Toxic trash poisons wildlife and communities downstream. Accumulated debris chokes stream flow and alters the creek habitat and its biological systems. In the face of legal restrictions and extreme environmental degradation, why do we see such wanton disregard for our waterways? More importantly, what can we do about it?

In most urban settings there is an excess of waste. To members of the community, waste disposal is an inconvenience. No one enjoys taking out the trash. Sorting and recycling can be burdensome, and on a household basis is rarely worth the redemption value. The most we have to gain from it is the intangible feeling of helping to provide a cleaner community and healthier environment. Yet no one really ever sees the direct personal impact of disposing and recycling waste. It is either hauled away to a landfill, or used to make products that we will probably never use ourselves.

It seems much easier to just dump trash wherever it's convenient. "Out of sight, out of mind" might sound good at first. However, this trash will eventually come back to haunt us. Virtually everything we put in our creeks finds its way into the bay and then the ocean. You may have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the final destination of the world's plastic, swirling within a massive ocean gyre, slowly decomposing into smaller particles, killing sea birds, mammals, and fish.

Excess waste and dumping are problems that will require a collaborative effort. Individuals and organizations, consumers and manufacturers, households and communities must all take action. People need to be informed about the impact their decisions have on the environment and their neighbors. Getting your community involved in keeping creeks clean is a very powerful step in creating a healthier watershed.

To report spills or dumps in your watershed call: (510) 724-9010 or (800) NO DUMPING.

To get involved in stewarding Pinole Creek, contact the Friends of Pinole Creek.

To find the creek group associated with your own local waterway, contact Juliana Gonzalez at (510) 665-3597 or juliana@thewatershedproject.org.

Other useful numbers to know:
California Dept. of Toxic Substances Control Waste Alert Hotline: 800-698-6942
California Environmental Hotline: 800-253-2687
California Office of Emergency Services: 800-852-7550
California Water Quality Control Board SF Bay Region: 510-622-2300
San Francisco BayKeeper: 800-533-7229
Contra Costa County Hazardous Material Toxic Emergency Hotline: 925-646-1112
Water Pollution Prevention Information: 888-229-9473
West County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility: 888-412-9277
Contra Costa County Recycling Hotline: 800-750-4096
Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District: 925-685-9301
East Bay Municipal Water District (EBMUD)Water Conservation Division: 510-287-0590