Santa Rosa cracking down on creekside homeless encampments

Strict new water quality rules requiring communities to do a better job of keeping trash and human waste out of local creeks are causing Santa Rosa to take a tougher stance on homeless encampments along local waterways.

Rules going into effect in the spring give communities 10 years to clean up local creeks to the point where they’re clean enough that people could enjoy swimming in them if they choose, said Heaven Moore, supervising engineer in the city’s water department.

“It’s a very strict regulation, in terms of how it’s written,” Moore said.

The new rules state that “trash shall not be present in creeks in amounts that adversely affect beneficial uses.” They define trash as nonorganic material larger than 5 millimeters, or less than a quarter-inch.

If the city has any hope of abiding by such regulations, it will have to address the dozens of homeless encampments along its 100 miles of creeks, Moore said.

“In Santa Rosa, we believe, 95 percent of trash (in creeks) is from homeless encampments,” she said.

The new regulations would allow private parties to sue the city under the federal Clean Water Act, with violations carrying fines of up to $10,000 per day, Moore said.

It’s not just trash that’s the problem. Studies of bacteria levels in creeks also indicate that homeless people are using the waterways as toilets, Moore said.

City officials took a tour of Santa Rosa Creek on Wednesday to see firsthand the environmental damage and to discuss ways to combat it. A group of about a dozen officials and members of the public trudged beneath the bridge at Brookwood Avenue.

After a cleanup just this past weekend, the area was again littered with garbage, including pizza boxes, beer cans, bicycle parts and dirty clothing. In the dirt beneath the bridge, holes had been dug into the embankment, presumably to allow people to sleep without rolling down the hill. Over the edge of an embankment, wads of toilet paper indicated how the creek was being used.

Police Officer Jesse Cude came upon a homeless man who was sleeping nearby. He woke him up, poured out his bottle of whiskey, and told him he couldn’t camp along the creek.

The man, who identified himself as Everett Lincoln, 45, said he had been living on the street since he was 10. But he insisted he doesn’t foul the creek.

“I pack out everything I bring in,” he said, professing a love of creeks.

Lincoln, his eyes red and gnarled fingers black, said he didn’t want to participate in any of the housing programs offered locally because they have too many rules.

Informed that a significant rainstorm was coming later this week, Lincoln said he’d just head downtown on his mountain bike and hole up under the cover of a building entrance or awning to stay dry.

Moore said the most effective strategy for cleaning up encampments is a combination of offering services to the homeless, enforcing laws and cleaning up the garbage left behind. Doing just one or two of those things invariably leads to the encampments returning.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.