Multiple dumped cars extracted near East Bay drinking water source

Cleanup crews for East Bay Municipal Utility District were busy Wednesday extracting four vehicles from near the San Leandro Reservoir, a key water source for Bay Area residents. The extraction comes just a day after the agency cleaned up 10 tons of material from a similar location on Tuesday and a month after extracting eight other abandoned cars in July.

There’s been an epidemic of abandoned cars in the Bay Area for years, especially in the East Bay, but EBMUD spokesperson Andrea Pook says the problem was exacerbated by the pandemic.

And while dumping a car is a relatively simple task, the extraction process is anything but. 

“I’m looking at five rigs; police to close the road; we have people who are rappelling off the side of a cliff, attaching a winch, to be able to pull this stuff out of this steep slope area. It’s unsafe, it’s challenging, it’s very expensive,” Pook said.

EBMUD generally spends about $100,000 each year on dump site cleanup, but Pook said she expects that figure to double for 2023. EBMUD said on social media that it cleaned up more than 8 tons of waste, including eight vehicles, in July alone.

The cars being extracted on Wednesday were not actually submerged in the reservoir, but they were found in the watershed area — a cause for concern given that the San Leandro Reservoir provides drinking water. According to its website, EBMUD serves 1.4 million people in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

“That water is going to be filtered, so our water is safe. But I would say that it takes a lot more resources to maintain our healthy watershed given this situation,” said Pook. 

EBMUD is urging the public to report illegal dumping by calling 1-800-NO-DUMPING in Contra Costa County, 510-670-5480 in Alameda County or by using the Mobile Citizen app.