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Water department reports Colgan Creek plantings, cleanup stats and outreach events
Summary
Water Department staff updated the Waterways Advisory Committee on creek restoration, outreach and trash-reduction work, saying phase 3 of Colgan Creek has planted more than 10,000 plants, weekly crews remove about 1,100 cubic yards of debris annually and cigarette butts are the most common litter item.
At a meeting of the City of Santa Rosa Waterways Advisory Committee, Water Department staff provided updates on creek restoration and outreach, reporting progress on Colgan Creek and ongoing trash‑reduction efforts.
Steve Bridal, a water department representative, said the department is running Creek Protector Adventure Day on Santa Rosa Creek near Flat Rock Park and that “about 70 children are signed up” for the half‑day educational event. He told the committee the department held a ribbon‑cutting for the Phase 3 Colgan Creek restoration in late May and “so far we planted over 10,000 plants,” a scale Bridal said should produce more shade as the plantings mature.
Bridal described the department’s cleanup program and outreach work, saying supervised weekly crews and community volunteers remove roughly 1,100 cubic yards of trash per year across creek cleanup efforts and that an external coastal‑cleanup tally shows cigarette butts are the single most common item found. “Cigarette butts are number one,” he said, noting the result came from the coastal cleanup inventories the department reviews.
Bridal also highlighted recent outreach: the creeks team staffed a booth at the Water Smart Expo and has introduced a mascot, “Ollie the Otter,” to engage families at events. He invited residents to contact the creeks team with non‑emergency concerns at creeks@srcity.org.
On trash policy, Bridal said a pilot program in Sebastopol showed local reductions are possible with significant effort but that replicating that model citywide may not be feasible. The department is resurveying streets (an initial assessment was done around 2014) to identify corridors that need additional measures such as targeted education, more frequent cleanups or structural control devices.
Bridal underscored the infrastructure challenge of treating stormwater: the city has on the order of 18,000 structures (inlets and manholes) and roughly 1,400 outfalls, which complicates centralized treatment strategies. He said widespread treatment at scale would require facilities beyond what the city can reasonably build.
The committee asked about coordination for event cleanups on the Prince Memorial Greenway; Bridal said parks and creeks staff typically coordinate a call before large events and that he would ensure the upcoming event on the 22nd was on their schedule. He also noted Artstart is restoring murals on the Prince Memorial Greenway with city funding.
Committee members and staff did not take formal action on the items. Bridal closed by encouraging public participation in events and reminding the committee about the creeks email for non‑emergency reports.
The committee moved on to the Greenway Connectivity Study presentation after the update.
