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California Water Service Company fined for spilling chemicals into Polhemus Creek, killing steelhead trout

Posted by: Maven on June 1, 2009 at 6:25 am

From the Silicon Valley Mercury News:

A private utility that provides drinking water to the city of San Mateo has been fined for spilling chemicals into Polhemus Creek, killing more than 30 protected steelhead trout.

Although the incident occurred nearly two years ago, the California Water Service Co. was slapped with a $199,350 fine last week from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board for the fish kill and for failing to report the problem until local biologists noticed dead fish in the creek, according to the complaint.

The water board said at least 32 steelhead trout, a federally threatened species, died in September 2007 after two incidents in which the water purveyor accidentally spilled about 93,000 gallons of chloraminated drinking water into Polhemus Creek after a machine malfunctioned. Polhemus Creek flows through a watershed east of Crystal Springs Reservoir and is a main tributary of San Mateo Creek.

Chloramines have come to replace chlorine as the principal disinfectant in drinking water. It is harmless to humans but not to aquatic life, and it was discharged into the creek at concentrations well above the amount known to be lethal to fish in a scientific study, according to the water board.

Read more from the Silicon Valley Mercury News by clicking here.

June 1, 2009 · Filed Under Bay Area

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