A Bay Area environmental group has sued the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View, saying they are in violation of the federal Clean Water Act for discharging raw sewage and polluted storm water into creeks, sending bacteria pollution to levels more than 50 times legal limits. The group, San Francisco Baykeeper, said samples it collected revealed dangerous levels of E. coli, fecal coliform and other pollutants in Stevens Creek, Calabazas Creek, Sunnyvale East Channel and Guadalupe Slough, all of which empty into San Francisco Bay.
Like other cites in the Bay Area, both Sunnyvale and Mountain View treat their sewage at wastewater treatment plants before emptying it into the bay. But the suits claim aging clay sewer pipes throughout the two cities are leaking untreated sewage into storm drain systems, which empties into the creeks. “Basically these two cities are contaminating the bay year round with raw sewage,” said Sejal Choksi-Chugh, executive director of Baykeeper.