Laurel Creek is trash hot spot

By Dana Yates
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Laurel Creek in San Mateo and Colma Creek are among two of the 10 dirtiest waterways in Bay Area, according to a report released Monday by Save the Bay.

The report was released Monday in anticipation of Saturday’s Coastal Cleanup Day by an 40-year-old organization focused on cleaning and preserving the bay. Save The Bay identified 10 of the worst trash hot spots around San Francisco Bay: Alameda Creek, Colma Creek, Coyote Creek, Damon Slough, Grayson Creek, Guadalupe River, Laurel Creek, San Rafael Creek, Strawberry Creek, and Yosemite Slough.

Colma Creek flows from San Bruno Mountain through industrial South San Francisco into the bay near San Francisco International Airport. Laurel Creek runs through San Mateo and Foster City to the bay. Trash in that creek comes from dumping, littering, and street and storm drain runoff.

“We need to act now to stop trash from polluting the bay and killing its wildlife. We all can take simple actions, like volunteering on Coastal Cleanup Day and picking up trash in our neighborhoods, to protect the bay for future generations,” said David Lewis, executive director of Save The Bay.

The 23rd Annual Bayfront and Creek Cleanup Day will be held Sept. 15. More than 90 coastal cleanups will remove trash around the bay watershed, including efforts in San Mateo and Redwood City. San Mateo volunteers will be treated to barbecue and prizes after cleaning the bay shoreline and Marina Lagoon, according to a press release.

Volunteers removed nearly 700,000 pieces of trash from the Bay shoreline during last year’s Coastal Cleanup Day. Storm drains and creeks deliver trash to the bay and tides pull it back to the shoreline where it collects, often trapped by vegetation. Trash like cigarette butts, plastic bags, fast food wrappers, plastic bottles, cans, balls, packing materials, diapers and batteries accumulates in the bay faster than it can break down, according to Save the Bay.

Wildlife can become entangled in trash or ingest it, often to the point that their stomachs are completely blocked and the animals starve.

For information about the Bay Area hot spots visit www.saveSFbay.org/baytrash.

The San Mateo cleanup will be held 7:30 a.m. to noon, Sept. 15 at Ryder Park. For more information, call 522-7342.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106

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