Saratoga News

Water district tests continue to show bacteria levels in creek

Coliform levels are still above EPA's standards

Results point to Village

By Sarah Lombardo

The latest round of water-quality tests in Saratoga Creek indicate no change in coliform levels, which have consistently exceeded federal Environmental Protection Agency standards since testing on the creek began in late 1995.

The tests show that levels of fecal coliform and total coliform at various sites along Saratoga Creek reach more than four times the recommended levels. The highest results came from water samples taken from a primarily residential site on the downstream side of Saratoga Creek's intersection with Crestbrook Drive near St. Andrew's School. Tests there showed fecal coliform levels of 900 organisms per 100 milliliters and total coliform levels of 900 organisms per 100 milliliters.

EPA fecal coliform standards call for no more than 200 organisms per 100 milliliters in recreational bodies of water and for total coliform levels of no more than 240 organisms per 100 milliliters.

Other samples along Saratoga Creek also exceeded EPA recommendations, with fecal coliform levels ranging from 500 organisms per 100 milliliters from samples taken from a Fourth Street outfall near Wildwood Park in the Saratoga Village to 300 organisms per 100 milliliters from water taken from an outfall below the Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road bridge over the creek. Total coliform levels at those sites also exceeded recommended amounts.Samples taken from the Saratoga Creek at test sites above the Saratoga Village fall within EPA limits. Samples below the Village exceed the limits. Fecal and total coliform are indicators of the possibility of sewage in the Saratoga Creek. The organisms are found in the bodies of mammals and can be harmful in some cases.

The tests were conducted by the Santa Clara Valley Water District as part of the Urban Creek Assessment Project, which was created as part of a settlement agreement between the district and the San Francisco BayKeeper and the Friends of the Santa Clara County Creeks.

The settlement, reached in June 1995, called for quarterly testing of the creek over a three-year period.

The latest test results came as no surprise to members of the environmental groups, which have been involved in litigation with the city of Saratoga over the state of the creek since 1995.

"We now have a couple years of study," said Saratogan Jeff Schwartz, a member of Friends. "This isn't something fishy in Denmark. This is something else in Saratoga. The creek is obviously polluted in the Village area."

Don Whetstone, also a member of Friends, points to septic tanks in the area that may be leaking as a possible cause for the high levels of coliform bacteria. Whetstone said he'd like to see the city regulate use of the septic tanks--a move that City Manager Larry Perlin said might be in Saratoga's future.

"The City Council has directed the city attorney to look into the options available to them in instituting some sort of regulations regarding the use of septic tanks," Perlin said, adding that the report could be ready within the next few months.

According to Perlin, the septic tanks are regulated by the Department of County Health. The city does, however, have an ordinance requiring the abandonment of septic tanks by homeowners who plan to have a significant amount of work done to their homes and who live within a specified distance to district sewer lines.

What the council might consider in the future, Perlin said, could include an ordinance requiring the abandonment of septics by all homeowners with property within a set distance of sewer lines by a certain date. But, Perlin cautioned, such an ordinance would require the cooperation of more than just the councilmembers.

"Bear in mind that we don't own or operate the sewer system. So, we'd have to coordinate with the agency that did," Perlin said. "And we don't regulate septics, so we'd have to work with county health as well regarding septics."

In the meantime, the BayKeeper and Friends lawsuit against the city is still in court. The Saratoga Creek--as well as the Coyote Creek and the Guadalupe River--is also the subject of scrutiny in another lawsuit surrounding the possible dumping of suspected carcinogenic PCBs in the water over a 20-year period by Pacific Gas and Electric workers. The dumping into the Saratoga Creek is said to have taken place near Great America Parkway.

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