GILROY—Recent rains helped return water to bone dry streams such as Uvas Creek in Christmas Hill Park. But the rainfall also exacerbated the issue of debris in a seasonal channel that weaves through central Gilroy neighborhoods.
More than a week after a Dispatch article detailed mounting trash in Miller Slough at the Forest Street bridge, it’s still there and more has accumulated.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District says it is responsible for flood control along portions of the Miller Slough—but not at that bridge. Removing debris is not part of the agency’s duties since it doesn’t own that part of the waterway, according to SCVWD Field Operations Administrator Terri Gross.
“We don’t have jurisdiction over everything,” she said.
Gilroy Public Works Director Rick Smelser disagrees. It’s the water district’s responsibility to maintain the waterway at the Forest Street bridge, and while the district does not own the slough, it has a duty to keep it clean, he said.
“We’ve worked with their crews and they have responsibility for that portion of the slough on the east side of Monterey Road,” said Smelser. “We don’t own all the property on the west side, for instance, but we still clean it up.”
Smelser said city and water district crews worked together to clean county-owned creeks in Gilroy in October, before the rains came.
The city and water district have crews who walk the creeks along which many homeless reside. City crews hauled away 38 tons of refuse from more than 100 homeless encampments last year—much of it in or along waterways.
Gross inspects the creeks in South County in district jurisdiction, noting any problems such as debris, she said. Annually, district staff walk the area’s major creeks and schedule maintenance for debris or graffiti removal, SCVWD spokesperson Marty Grimes said. Minor creeks are inspected every two years, he said.
If Gross sees debris, it’s recorded and addressed by crews usually within two weeks, she said. But that only applies to the district’s waterways.
At the Forest Street bridge, district officials say it’s up to the property owners to keep the slough clean.
A parcel map provided by Grimes shows that the portion of the slough Vickroy called the city about does not belong to the district.
Agencies like the California Fish and Wildlife Department and the Regional Water Quality Control Board have more authority than the water district, and can punish polluters, Gross said.
“There are hundreds of miles of creeks in South County, so we do count on other people,” she said.
