Click on the words above “Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit – Oakland” to see this entire post
The images below are a small selection of the images I have recorded over the past three years in Oakland that show the huge problem of municipal trash. Much, not all, of this trash originates at homeless camps around Oakland. Much of this debris is plastic and ends up in San Francisco Bay.
Since 2009 I have collected nearly 7 tons of trash off the beaches of West Marin and from Tomales Bay.
Each winter I collect a few dozen, sometimes more, dirty syringes that have washed up on the beaches of Point Reyes National Seashore, including but not limited to Limantour, Drakes, South, North, Kehoe and McClures beaches.
Since 2016 I have been visiting Lake Merritt and other locations in and around the western edges of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley and Oakland in search of the source of these needles.
I’ve collected thousands of needles from in and around the homeless camps in these communities. I’ve also learned that needle exchanges are not actually exchanges. For example, The Berkeley Needle Exchange will hand out 600 needles to anyone that asks, with no need to turn in a single dirty needle. I believe this is wrong and is responsible for the horrid amount of syringe litter that blights our cities and waterways.
Here is a short video recorded during the heavy rain on 7 December, 2019 at Lake Merritt.
One can see the failing containment boom at Glen echo allowing debris to slip past in the high flows.
At Trestle Glen, the smell of oil / gas on the water was nauseating and very noticeable on the surface.
.
Click on an image to see a larger version.
2016
.
2017
Street trash washed into Lake Merritt on 16 November, 2017
Street trash washed into Lake Merritt on 16 November, 2017
Street trash washed into Lake Merritt on 16 November, 2017
Street trash washed into Lake Merritt on 16 November, 2017
.
2018
.
2019
Broken boom leaks debris at Glen Echo
