Overview:
Marina Bay residents for years have lamented the illegal dumping in Meeker Slough, which lies along a popular walking and birding trail.
But cleaning the trash up hasn't been as easy as some might think, the city of Richmond says, due to toxic chemicals in the water, the result of decades of chemical dumping by companies that were once located there.
At high tide, walkers and joggers on the Marina Bay portion of the Bay Trail are treated to views of egrets and other birds picking their way through the saltwater marsh, a serene landscape that immediately soothes the senses.
But at low tide, discarded mattresses, tires and broken shopping carts often mar the view, peeking through the water of Meeker Slough, the slow moving channel that runs alongside the trail and empties into the bay.
For years, the trash in the slough has prompted angry calls and emails from frustrated residents begging the city of Richmond to do something, with some residents even offering to clean it up. Now, the city is finally on the verge of signing a contract with a remediation firm to conduct regular slough cleanups.
“I lived in Marina Bay for 12 years and walked my dog on the trail, so I share residents’ frustrations,” said Tawfic Halaby, Richmond’s deputy director of public works.
Everyone agrees the work needs to be done but doing so is not as easy as it may look. The water in the slough and surrounding Stege Marsh is heavily contaminated with mercury, arsenic, lead, zinc, selenium, cadmium and other chemicals, remnants of industrial operations in the area.
Until 1948, the California Cap Co. manufactured explosives at the edge of the marsh while nearby Stauffer Chemical Company (later Zeneca Inc.) produced sulfuric acid and other industrial chemicals. The Zeneca site remains fenced off and inaccessible to the public.
“We know that Meeker Slough has polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in it because of testing that was done several years ago,” said Richmond City Council member Sue Wilson, whose district includes Meeker Slough. “It’s not unreasonable to assume that there are volatile organic compounds in the water. I would strongly advise against residents going into the water to remove debris themselves.”
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a known carcinogen and can cause liver and reproductive damage. They were banned in 1979 but because they do not degrade, they can be present in the environment for a long time.
Don’t dump your junk
Illegal dumping is a citywide problem. Here are some tips for disposing of unwanted items:
- Richmond residents are entitled to three free annual pickups of large items; call 510-262-7100 to arrange.
- Junk can be taken to the Golden Bear Transfer Station on Parr Boulevard. There is a fee, but certain items, such as mattresses and carpeting, are accepted for free on recycling days.
- Republic Services schedules pickup days for bulky trash. Check their website for the schedule.
- Social media networks such as Nextdoor and Facebook can help you get rid of things for free via “buy nothing” pages. There’s also OfferUp.
Over the past several months, city engineers have been in talks with the contractor, yet to be announced, to figure out the best way to retrieve bulky items that are often dumped there. Would it be better for workers in protective gear to enter the water and pull items out? Or would tying items to a floating device and pulling them out be a more ecologically-sound option? Should objects be rinsed off on-site or should they immediately be taken to a landfill equipped to receive toxic materials?
“You have to safely get items out of the slough without destroying the marshland and causing damage to local flora,” Halaby said. “We don’t have a precedent for this or the institutional knowledge, even among workers who have been with the city for more than 30 years. This is a trial run.”
The city plans to conduct two cleanups a year, in January or February and again in the fall, to account for the protracted breeding season of the ridgeway rail, an endangered bird with a bright orange bill that it uses to probe the muddy wetlands for food. Ten thousand dollars has been budgeted for the initial pilot project, Halaby told Richmondside.
Residents of the area say that the planned work can’t happen soon enough.
“If the water in the slough is as high as the canal, I know it’s high tide, so it’s OK to go for a walk there,” says Marina Bay resident Paul Knox. “Otherwise, I just don’t walk there because it’s too disheartening. The trash problem is out of control.”
Some of the debris that ends up in Meeker Slough originates at the culvert gates near the Albertson’s Bread Plant on South 34th Street, according to Wilson. The area is closed off by a six-foot fence, but somehow people are illegally dumping bulky items over the fence and into the culvert that winds about half a mile before ending in the slough.
Halaby noted that the fence along Regatta Boulevard is broken in parts, creating another potential access point for illegal dumping.
“We are looking at all these things,” he said. “Ultimately, how do we cut down on illegal dumping while maintaining the pristine character of this little slice of nature in a residential neighborhood?”
populations of the orange-billed bird. Courtesy of Rachel Lawrence
Meeker Slough is a popular site for birders, who often set up telescopes along the Bay Trail in hopes of seeing the Ridgway’s rail and other birds.
“It’s been frustrating to the birding community and to other people who use that area, pedestrians, bikers and birds,” said Cathy Bleier, a member of Golden Gate Bird Alliance. “It just looks bad and will be even worse when the rains come.”
Knox said the crux of the issue is that the city needs to do more to crack down on illegal dumping before trash ends up in local waterways.
“It seems like it’s easier to pick up trash upstream, before it ends up in the slough,” he said. “This whole thing kind of feels like we’re trying to put a man on the moon.”
In the first paragraph, the author says there are “cranes” in Meeker Slough. Not so. There are herons and egrets, but no cranes.
Good catch. Will correct.
Richmond Shoreline Alliance applauds the dedication and persistence of local activists to clean up Meeker Slough. Our shoreline is a treasure, and this project shows what can be accomplished when the community shows up and speaks up.
The City if Oakland is tackling illegal dumping that has plagues certain neighborhoods. If the City of Richmond hasn’t already, perhaps connecting with employees mentioned in this article would be fruitful?https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/us/oakland-california-trash-garbage.html?searchResultPosition=2
Glad to know the City is finally going to clean up the slough. Such a beautiful area, but as the article states, a complete eyesore during low tide. Cracking down on illegal dumping would certainly help keep it free of debris.
Great to hear more about the planned cleanups!
“Some of the debris that ends up in Meeker Slough originates at the culvert gates near the Albertson’s Bread Plant on South 34th Street, according to Wilson. The area is closed off by a six-foot fence, but somehow people are illegally dumping bulky items over the fence and into the culvert that winds about half a mile before ending in the slough.”
1) When looking at Richmond’s storm drain map, you see that part of I-80 drains into that culvert. That explains where a lot of the small trash and organic debris, which is not trapped by the expensive trash capture devices near the culvert, originates and ends up stuck in the vegetation along the slough. I would assume that the large items, like couches, bikes, shopping carts, and tires, are too large to make their way through the storm drain system. Determining where the large debris is coming from needs to be determined before an effective prevention plan can be put in place. I walked the entirety of Meeker ditch in mid-July yet, despite many holes in the fence along the ditch, saw no large items in it. Did anyone see large items in Meeker Ditch prior to our first big storm this fall?
2) I would not say that it “winds”. Meeker ditch is as straight as an arrow.
Thanks much for this excellent article!
An earlier article stated that a cleanup of Meeker Slough would take place in September. I mentioned this to a friend who lives in Oakland, and he said “don’t hold your breath, they keep saying they are going to clean it up and it never happens”.
I hope you are right that this will happen in 2026 – it breaks my heart to see such a dump in our neighborhood.