BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale have been ordered to pay $1,178,400 each in fines for polluting Stevens Creek and Calabazas Creek with harmful bacteria from storm drains.
“The violations here are serious and long-running,” Judge Edward Davila said in Tuesday’s ruling. “They involve actual pollution — not just paperwork violations — that can pose public health risks.”
Davila found the cities violated the Clean Water Act from Jan. 17, 2019, to June 30, 2022, from when the nonprofit Baykeeper tested their water quality to when they received a new permit.
Baykeeper alleged the violations carried a maximum penalty of $86 million for each city, but Davila gave the cites credit for trying to address pollution.
For example, Mountain View provides portable toilets to RV dwellers, posts signs telling residents to clean up after their dogs and inspects industrial businesses and construction sites.
“While those efforts did not pay off, they justify a significant reduction in penalties,” Davila said.
The fine will go to the U.S. Treasury. Davila still has to make a ruling on attorneys’ fees and whether to place the cities under court orders to clean up the pollution. He asked Baykeeper to file a motion with proposed orders.
Baykeeper, an Oakland-based nonprofit, has filed more than 300 lawsuits against individuals, public agencies and private companies since 1993.
Baykeeper’s February 2020 lawsuit against Mountain View and Sunnyvale claimed the cities violated their permits from the State Water Resources Control Board by allowing polluted water into the storm drains.
Baykeeper’s sampling of local creeks showed bacteria pollution at levels 50 times higher than the legal limits and revealed dangerous levels of E. coli from human fecal matter, the lawsuit said.
To support Baykeeper’s case, three residents said they enjoyed walking, biking and paddle boarding around Stevens Creek but can’t do so because of the discolored water and odor of raw sewage.
In response, the cities cast doubt on Baykeeper’s testing results and said they’ve followed their permits and taken steps to prevent pollution.
The case went to trial in June in San Jose with testimony from environmental engineers, hydrologists and city workers who manage the sewers and storm drains
Baykeeper Executive Director Sejal Choksi-Chugh said the cities have “wasted years and squandered millions of taxpayer dollars” fighting the lawsuit when they should’ve been working to fix their storm drain systems.
“Cities should be providing their residents with a healthy environment and local creeks that are safe for recreation, not fighting to keep polluting,” Choksi-Chugh said in a statement on Wednesday.