Santa Clara Valley Water to pay unhoused residents to keep trash out of waterways
Valley Water in Santa Clara County began two new initiatives to keep trash and debris out of waterways.
The first will pay unhoused people to clean up trash in encampments, and the other will provide bathrooms near those encampments.
"What are we supposed to do with it? I mean, we can't just throw it anywhere. I mean, we just have to live in it," said Veronica Campko.
She lives in a tent on the banks of the Guadalupe River behind Safeway. She said no one wants to live surrounded by trash.
Campko explained that she became unhoused when her grandfather passed away and her family lost their home.
"It was unfortunate circumstances that got me out here. Kind of out of my hands," she said.
Last year, she participated in a city of San Jose program called "Trash for Cash" where unhoused residents were paid up to $25 onto pre-paid debit cards for collecting bags of trash. Now, Valley Water wants to setup a similar program but expand it to the entire county for unhoused residents who live along the watersheds.
"We want to try to reduce the amount of encampment-generated trash from entering the water ways. Once it goes into the water ways it can go out to the bay and can harm fish and wildlife," said Jen Codianne, with Santa Clara Valley Water.
Codianne is the deputy director of operations for Santa Clara Valley Water, which provides service to more than 2 million customers across the county and manages more than 300 miles of creeks and streams. According to their estimates, there are more than 2,300 unhoused residents living along those water ways.
"These are really inaccessible areas in some parts. They're steep; it's very hard for our staff to be hauling trash out," said Codianne.
Valley Water said in the last year it removed 2.7 million pounds of trash from encampments along the water ways, which is why coming up with a new program like this is so critical.
For residents like Veronica, she said any help is welcome.
"I'd do it without being paid to be honest with you. It's just somewhere to put the trash would be nice," she said.
The program is expected to roll out in November. So far, Valley Water doesn't have a set budget for the program, but it said they will start with $25 pre-paid debit cards and will expand it if it's successful.
Valley Water said trash is just one part of the issue.
Human waste is another major pollutant. An EPA grant will provide Valley Water with more than $2.2 million dollars to put portable restrooms at the largest encampments to keep hazardous waste out of the watersheds as well.